On Friday at the National Bank Stadium, Pakistan defeated New Zealand by 102 runs in the fourth match to rise to the top of the ICC ODI Rankings. Pakistan’s victory was Babar Azam’s 18th century, and he became the quickest player to reach 5000 runs.
After beating New Zealand by 102 runs at the National Stadium in Karachi on Friday, Pakistan moved up to the top spot in the ODI rankings for the first time in their history. The home team has a commanding 4-0 lead in the five-game ODI series.
Pakistan, though, must ensure a convincing victory in the fifth and final ODI on Sunday, May 7 if they are to keep their number one ranking. If they lose the fifth ODI, they would fall to third in the standings and Australia will return to the top. If there is no winner in the fifth match, Pakistan will maintain its position at the top of the ICC ODI rankings.
With their new score of 113.483, Pakistan are now ranked higher than both India (112.638) and Australia (113.286). If the Men in Green want to keep their spot at the top of the table, they need to win the fifth and final ODI, which will take place on Sunday, May 7 in Karachi. In the event of a loss in the last ODI, they will fall to third place, with Australia and India moving up to first and second.
Pakistan now has 113 points, tied with India and Australia for first place in the five-match series. When the points are broken down further than the decimal point, though, Pakistan comes out on top.Babar’s team will become undisputed champions with 115 points if Pakistan prevail in the fifth and final ODI. In the event of a loss on Sunday, Pakistan would drop to third place with 112 points. The Men in Green have only ever finished in third place twice before, in 2007 and 2022.
After being put in, Pakistan posted 334/6 thanks in large part to Babar’s 117-ball 107. Usama Mir and Mohammad Wasim Junior combined for seven wickets to help New Zealand collapse from 184/3 in 33.1 overs to 232 all-out in 43.4 overs.
Babar scored his 5,000th run at the age of 19 in 97 innings across 99 games. He did it in 101 innings, beating the previous record holder, Hashim Amla. Babar hit 10 fours during his innings and contributed to four successful partnerships.
Pakistan’s other scorers were Shan Masood (44, 55b, 7×4) and Salman Ali Agha (46-ball 58). Matt Henry collected three wickets for New Zealand. After falling to 46 for 2, New Zealand’s batsmen Daryl Mitchell (34) and Tom Latham (60) contributed 83 runs off 103 balls to help their team reach its total of 335.
After losing four wickets in the 34th over, when New Zealand was at 184, Pakistan’s bowlers clamped down and eventually bowled the tourists out for 232 in 43.4 overs.Pakistan scored 334/6 in 50 overs, defeating New Zealand’s 232 in 43.3 overs (Tom Latham 60, Mark Chapman 46, Usama Mir 4/43, Mohammad Wasim Junior 3/40, Haris Rauf 2/37).
Babar Azam on Pakistan Becoming the Top ODI Squad Team “Team’s efforts and the work from the support staff has helped us to be number 1, Credit to the boys for putting in the effort in tough times. The journey has been good. And has been a memorable one. Has been filled with support, sacrifices, and struggle so far,” Babar Azam said in the post-match presentation.
“The wicket played well today. We planned to build partnerships. Me and Agha built a partnership and decided to take it deep. We thought 310 was possible. Shaheen got us beyond expectations. As a team, we had decided we would test our bench strength. We need to prepare for future games and events. We needed to be sure of our best 15 or 16 players,” he continued.
Also Read:
Fakhar Zaman becomes third-fastest player to 3000 ODI runs
ODI World Cup 2023 would begin on October 5 and end on November 19 in Ahmedabad: Report
