Who has the most hundreds in International Cricket this year? | PAK vs ENG:
The sound heard when Babar Azam’s bat collided with the ball in Rawalpindi could even put the most renowned minstrels to shame. For the crowd sitting in the stadium of one of Pakistan’s twin cities, there was no sound sweeter than it and so they made, with their loud cheers, sure the crisp sound of union of the ball and the wood of bat was celebrated with every ounce of passion they had forgetting the fact that the third day of the test which will most likely end in a draw is being played.
Forgetting even that their team had conceded a mammoth 657 runs total in the same test match. All they cared about was to witness the finesse of the right-handed batter on strike who responded back to the crowd cheering for him with his gracefully struck drives. The drives which were commanded to stop nowhere before reaching the boundary line by the maestro himself. No matter how many fielders fell in its way in their attempt to impede it, the ball like a guided missile stopped only after blowing its target.
The crowd told Babar that they missed cricket on this soil and the captain, while making sure to lead his team from the front, consoled them with his eye-soothing shots played everso magnificently, with the timing of strokes so perfect one would doubt he has a telepathic connection with the bowler. Babar Azam’s innings was poetry in motion and his fans hummed to every word of it.
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However, for the 28-year old himself the innings was something beyond just entertainment. Captaining a side who became the recent victim of Bazball, Babar knew he had a job to do. The Pakistani skipper racked up a composed ton, his 8th in Test matches.
Where the Lahore-born’s century helped his team inch towards the pile of runs the English team had earlier scored, it also helped him bag a few milestones. The century saw Babar Azam reach the top of the list containing the names of players with the most centuries across the formats so far in this year. The right armed batter achieved this feat by superseding the English wicket-keeper batter, Jonny Bairstow. The Pakistan Skip scored 7 centuries in all three formats combined this year which also helped him accumulate the highest runs during the same duration.
Most hundreds in international cricket (across formats) in 2022:
𝟳 – 𝗕𝗮𝗯𝗮𝗿 𝗔𝘇𝗮𝗺*
6 – Jonny Bairstow
𝟱 – 𝗜𝗺𝗮𝗺-𝘂𝗹-𝗛𝗮𝗾*
5 – Joe Root*
4 – Usman Khawaja
Imam ul Haq and Joe Root, both of whom are part of this series for their respective sides stand at the 3rd and 4th position in the list with 5 centuries each, in their bag.
With an innings and 2 Test matches yet to be played by Babar before the year dies, an increase in the tally of his centuries this year is hopefully on cards. In other words, the fans of the 28 year old cricketer are going to have a December to remember, one they could chronicle to generations to come.
