A Babar Azam century lifted Pakistan to victory over South Africa on Friday, with the knock making the batsman the fastest man to 13 ODI centuries.

Reaching the landmark in just his 76th innings, Babar pipped Hashim Amla, who took 83 knocks to reach the same number of tons.

Babar’s overall record is remarkable in the 50-over format, and it seems likely that he will end his career as Pakistan’s greatest-ever ODI batsman. He already stands third on the list of Pakistanis with the most ODI hundreds – above him are Mohammad Yousuf and Saeed Anwar. The former managed to hit 15 tons in 281 ODIs for Pakistan, while the latter reached 20 in 247. If Babar continues at his current rate, or even just close to it, he should surpass both easily.

The current Pakistan skipper still has 16 names above him in the list of highest ODI run-makers for Pakistan and yet he’s made just a fraction of appearances in comparison to them all. Furthermore, none of the 16 come close to Babar’s average of 56.66: in second-place is Misbah-ul-Haq – who famously never reached three figures in ODIs – with an average of 43.40.

While it is still early days, it seems Babar is thriving as captain, too. From four ODIs as skipper, he has hit two hundreds and one fifty, with both his average and strike rate above 100. Should he hit even just one more century in his new role, he will equal the record of most hundreds as Pakistan’s men’s ODI captain, currently held by Azhar Ali.

Further credit in Babar’s favour is his ability to perform on the biggest stage the ODI format offers: the World Cup. Back in the 2019 edition, Babar was his side’s star batsman, hitting 474 runs across eight matches to break the record of the most runs by a Pakistan batter at a men’s World Cup. His hundred against New Zealand, icing a tricky chase against a strong bowling attack in a must-win game, was one of the finest in the competition.

There’s little wonder why only Virat Kohli, arguably the greatest ODI batsman of all time, stands above him in the current ICC rankings.

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