KARACHI: In a major achievement, Peshawar Zalmi skipper Babar Azam on Tuesday matched three major Pakistan Super League (PSL) records with a blistering century against Islamabad United in the Qualifier of the ongoing 11th edition at the National Bank Stadium.
Babar top-scored in the high-stakes fixture with a swashbuckling 103 off just 59 deliveries, studded with 12 fours and four sixes, and helped the table-toppers pile up a massive total of 221/7 in their 20 overs.
His 57-ball century in the ongoing match marked his second in the ongoing edition, meaning he became only the second batter in the history of the marquee league to score two centuries in a single season, joining Usman Khan, who registered the feat in PSL 9 with Multan Sultans.
Overall, it was Babar’s fourth century in the PSL, and it helped him draw level with Hyderabad Kingsmen’s Usman, who also has four hundreds, with his most recent coming in the league stage of the ongoing eight-team tournament against Multan Sultans.
Most centuries in PSL
- Usman Khan – four in 35 innings
- Babar Azam – four in 110 innings
- Kamran Akmal – three in 74 innings
- Rilee Rossouw – three in 98 innings
- Fakhar Zaman – three in 105 innings
Furthermore, Babar’s 103-run knock also helped him equal Lahore Qalandars’ Fakhar Zaman’s long-standing record of scoring the most runs in a single edition of the PSL.
Notably, the left-handed opener piled up 588 runs in 13 innings for the Qalandars in the seventh edition of the PSL with the help of one century and seven half-centuries.
Babar Azam, however, conceded 10 innings to accumulate as many runs in the ongoing season, scoring at an astounding average of 98.00 and a strike rate of 146.63, having smashed two centuries and three fifties.
Most Runs in a PSL Season
- Fakhar Zaman (Lahore Qalandars) – 588 runs in 2022
- Babar Azam (Peshawar Zalmi) – 588 runs* in 2024
- Babar Azam (Peshawar Zalmi) – 569 runs in 2024
- Babar Azam (Karachi Kings) – 554 runs in 2021
- Mohammad Rizwan (Multan Sultans) – 550 runs in 2023
- Mohammad Rizwan (Multan Sultans) – 546 runs in 2022
- Kusal Mendis (Peshawar Zalmi) – 541 runs* in 2026
- Babar Azam (Peshawar Zalmi) – 522 runs in 2023
- Mohammad Rizwan (Multan Sultans) – 500 runs in 2021
