The Babar-Imam duo equals Younis-Yousuf’s partnership record in ODIs

LAHORE: Pakistan openers Babar Azam and Imam-ul-Haq equaled Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf’s Pakistan partnership record in One Day Internationals (ODIs).

The partnership between Babar and Imam has been fantastic over the years in ODI cricket.

They have scored a lot of runs together and have now equaled the partnership record of Yousuf and Younis – two legends of Pakistan cricket.

Nine times Babar and Imam scored a ton for the country, equal to the record of Yousuf and Khan.

Let’s look at some other 100 partnerships for Pakistan (ODIs):

• Inzamam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Yousuf – eight times
• Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq – seven times
• Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman – six times
• Inzamam-ul-Haq, Saleem Malik – six times
• Mohammad Yousuf, Shoaib Malik – six times

A day earlier,Pakistan registered their first ODI series win beat New Zealand in 12 years with a hard-fought 26-run win in the third match in Karachi on Wednesday.

Imam-ul-Haq scored a 107-ball 90 while Babar Azam scored a 62-ball 54 in the side’s 26th ODI century to guide Pakistan to 287-6 in 50 overs.

Pakistan, who won the first two matches by five and seven wickets in Rawalpindi, took an unbeaten 3-0 lead in the five-match series.

“It’s always a relief when you win a series and it was a good team effort,” Babar said. “We put (on) a good total and then (the) bowlers were outstanding.

“Now we have to focus on not relaxing and coming out strong for the next two matches and hopefully we can continue to give one hundred percent.”

The last two matches are on Friday and Sunday, also in Karachi.

Pakistan’s last ODI series win over New Zealand was in 2011 and since then they have lost six of the seven series, one of which was a draw.