The glory of Pakistan’s victory went to the bowlers as they prevented South African strikers from scoring, “spokesman Babar Azam said on Friday after Men In Green beat the Proteas 1-0 in three ODIs in Centurion.
“I commend the bowlers as they have stopped [South Africa],” said Azam, who received the centenary of the game award at the post-match ceremony.
The captain said he and Imam tried to build a good relationship to get runs on the scoreboard.
Imam and Azam came together to form a 177 second wicket partnership.
Referring to Anrich Nortje, who recorded a career-best 4 out of 51, he said the losers missed a fortune – which created a problem for the Pakistani side.
“We will try to win the next game and win the series,” said Azam.
Pakistan got off to a good start in their 274 runs, honoring their captain Azam and opening Imam-ul-Haq, the two of whom combined for a 177-second wicket run.
But when Babar was gone, all hell broke loose, and even though the game was in its hands on many sides, Pakistan’s happy-looking tail took the game to the fence and needed the final ball border to defend the game.
In addition, Azam’s 100th place puts him in the league as the cricketer becomes the fastest striker in the world to score 13 ODI goals.
It took the Pakistani captain only 76 innings to get 13 points in more than 50 formats.
Hashim Amla, Virat Kohli of India, and Quentin de Kock of South Africa – his contemporaries – received 13th century from 83 innings, 13 years from 86 innings, and 13 tons from 86 innings, respectively.
