ISLAMABAD: Babar Azam on Thursday became the first Pakistani batter to register 30 or more List-A centuries as he smashed a brilliant 104 runs to guide Allied Bank Stallions to a victory over Engro Dolphins in the Champions One-Day Cup at Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad.
For the second consecutive game Dolphins failed to chase a total as they could only reach 97 runs in pursuit of the 272-run target set by Stallions.
Babar hit an unbeaten 104 off 100 balls with the help of seven fours and three sixes, including a boundary on penultimate ball of the innings to bring up his record century.
“Babar Azam smashed his 30th List-A century, becoming the first Pakistan batter to register 30 or more List-A centuries,” the Pakistan Cricket Board said in a statement.
The List-A cricket refers to 50-over domestic matches. The ton comes as a major sigh of relief for Babar, who’s had a poor form over the past few months.
Babar has failed to score a half-century in the last eight Test matches he has played and has also failed to deliver stellar performances in the last two ICC cricket world cups in India and the United States.
Yasir Khan (46, 58b, 5x4s), Shan Masood (34, 36b, 3x4s) and Tayyab Tahir (33, 49b, 4x4s) were the other notable contributors. In turn, Mehran Mumtaz (3-14) and Jahandad Khan (3-18) picked up three wickets each as Dolphins fell for a paltry 97 in just 25 overs.
After Stallions won the toss and elected to bat first, Shan and Yasir provided a solid opening partnership of 76 runs before falling in 13th and 17th overs, respectively. Babar and Tayyab stitched a 57-run third-wicket partnership before the latter fell in the 30th over.
Hussain Talat chipped in with 23 off 25 balls with the help of two fours while also adding 46 with Babar for the fifth wicket. The eighth-wicket partnership between Babar and Haris Rauf stretched for 41 runs in 23 balls with the latter only contributing three runs. All six Dolphins bowlers picked up one wicket each.
Jahandad’s three-wicket burst with the new ball left Dolphins at 40-3 before the other bowlers struck at regular intervals as they lost remaining seven wickets for just 57 runs. Abrar Ahmed dismissed the top scorers for Dolphins, Sahibzada Farhan (32, 36b, 6x4s) and Asif Ali (21, 28b, 3x4s). Haris Rauf bagged two wickets as well.
Stallions made it two out of three wins as they qualified for the playoff stage, along with UMT Markhors and Lake City Panthers, while the Dolphins faced their third consecutive defeat. Lions and Dolphins are fighting for the fourth place in the playoff stage and will face each other on September 22.
Babar Azam becomes first Pakistani batter to register 30 centuries in 50-over domestic matches
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Babar Azam becomes first Pakistani batter to register 30 centuries in 50-over domestic matches
- Babar hit an unbeaten 104 off 100 balls as Allied Bank Stallions defeated Engro Dolphins in Champions One-Day Cup
- For the 2nd consecutive game Dolphins failed to chase a total and reached only 97 runs in pursuit of the 272-run target
Pakistan to sign preferential trade agreement with Russia during Sharif’s upcoming visit — envoy
- Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif plans to visit Russia on March 3-5, Russian state news agency RIA reported this month
- Islamabad will also organize Russia-Pakistan Business Forum, which will have participation from more than 100 Pakistani firms
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is seeking to sign a preferential trade agreement (PTA) with Russia to boost bilateral trade volume during Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s upcoming visit to Moscow, Pakistan’s ambassador to Moscow has said.
Pakistani Ambassador Faisal Niaz Tirmizi said this during the Moscow-Islamabad media forum, which was hosted by Sputnik ahead of Sharif’s scheduled visit to Moscow next month.
Pakistan and Russia, once Cold War rivals, have strengthened ties in recent years. In 2023, Islamabad began purchasing discounted Russian crude oil banned from European markets over Ukraine war, and also received first shipment of liquefied petroleum gas from Moscow.
The volume of Russia-Pakistan trade rose more than 100 percent to $1.81 billion from July 2023 till June 2024, though it experienced slight contraction in the last fiscal year, according to officials.
“Once the prime minister is here, we will start the process of signing PTA with the Eurasian Economic Union and the Russian Federation,” Tirmizi said at the forum.
Pakistan and Russia are members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a Eurasian political, economic and security organization, and have had sustained high-level interactions and institutional mechanisms in recent years.
PM Sharif plans to visit Russia on March 3-5, Russian state news agency RIA reported this month, citing a Pakistani official.
Tirmizi said Russia-Pakistan ties were not only strategic or bilateral, but they had commercial, people-to-people and business dimensions as well.
“I am very happy to announce that Pakistan is also organizing the second Russia-Pakistan Business Forum during this visit,” he said.
“Over a hundred companies, hundred leading companies are coming from Pakistan to interact with the Russian partners.”
