Babar Azam's century helps Pakistan win 3rd T20I against SA

Pakistan captain Babar Azam led his team from the front and won the third T20 match against South Africa by nine wickets. The game was held at SuperSport Park in Centurion on Wednesday. Azam smashed a 49-ball century. It is now the fastest hundred by a captain in the shortest format of the game. The batsman hit 15 fours, and four sixes in his 59-ball stay at the crease. His opening partner, Mohammad Rizwan, scored an unbeaten 73 off 47 balls as they added a record first-wicket stand of 197 runs. 

With the help of his maiden T20I century, Pakistan chased down the huge target of 204 with two overs to spare. Azam recently dethroned Indian captain Virat Kohli from the top position in the latest released ICC ODI rankings. Babar also added another achievement to his illustrious career. He has become only the fourth Pakistani batsman to claim the No.1 spot in the 50-over format. Before him, Zaheer Abbas (1983-84), Javed Miandad (1988-89), and Mohammad Yousuf (2003) have been the number one ODI batsmen for Pakistan. 

Babar Azam surpassed Kohli as the No.1 ODI batsman in the latest ICC rankings

Earlier, Azam had also captured the top position in the ICC T20 rankings. However, currently, he is ranked third after Dawid Malan and Aaron Finch. Babar Azam presently has 797 rating points to his name in the shortest format. The Pakistani skipper was also the second-highest getter in the recently concluded ODI series against South Africa series with 228 runs. He is only behind Fakhar Zaman, who scored 302 runs.

Mohammed Rizwan's knock was overshadowed by his captain, but he was equally brilliant in a supporting role. It was the second-highest successful run chase in a T20 international match at Centurion. Talking about South Africa, Janneman Malan and Aiden Markram shared a 108-run opening wicket partnership as South Africa got off to a flying start after being asked to bat first. Markram scored a half-century for a third successive time before being bowled for 63, and Malan scored 55 runs. The final T20I match is going to commence on Friday and will be played at the same venue in Centurion. Pakistan cricket team will be riding high on confidence going into the last game of the series. Babar Azam and the team had already won the 3-match ODI series earlier.

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