SA vs PAK: Saim Ayub joins Virat Kohli in elite list with 2nd hundred in ODI series

Pakistan’s rising star Saim Ayub hits his 2nd hundred of the 3-match ODI series vs South Africa.

Ayub hit a 94-ball 101 in the 3rd ODI at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg. With his 2nd hundred of the series, Ayub joined an elite list of visiting batters with multiple hundreds in a bilateral ODI series in South Africa. He joined the likes of David Warner, Fakhar Zaman and Joe Root, who also have two ODI hundreds in South Africa. Meanwhile, Kevin Pietersen and Virat Kohli lead the list with 3 hundreds in 7 and 6 matches respectively.

Shikhar Dhawan, Fakhar Zaman, Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar and Kumar Sangakkara are among the other Asian batters to have hit ODI centuries in Johannesburg. In the rain-marred contest, the left-handed opener went all guns blazing from the word go. His fiery innings propelled Pakistan to a competitive total of 308 runs.

Saim Ayub shines
Ayub cut the wide ball to deep point. He then removed his helmet and raised his bat to acknowledge the applause, before being embraced by his skipper, Mohammad Rizwan. His teammates in the dressing room gave him a standing ovation for what had been a flawless knock from the left-hander.

It was a collective display of batting by Pakistan as Babar Azam and Rizwan also scored 52 and 53 respectively. After Abdullah Shafique was dismissed for a golden duck, Ayub and Babar shared a 114-run stand. Then the Southpaw teamed up with his captain in a 93-run partnership from just 75 balls. After the dismissal of top-order batters, the middle and lower order also contributed significantly to provide a perfect finish to Pakistan’s innings. Salman Agh with 33-ball 48 and Tayyab Tahir’s 24-ball 28 guided Pakistan to 309/9 in 47 overs.