Ace Pakistan batter Babar Azam on Friday ended a wait of 807 days to bring up his 32nd international hundred and 20th ODI century, marking a return to form after more than two years of a very poor run. It was his first international hundred after 83 innings.

Babar’s last international hundred was also in ODIs, when he scored 151 against Nepal in Multan in August 2023.

Since then, Babar’s form dropped across formats and his performance reflected on the team in the 2023 ODI World Cup, the 2024 T20 World Cup, as well as the Champions Trophy earlier this year.

On Friday, Sri Lanka had posted a respectable 288/8 in their 50 overs, with Janith Liyanage scoring a half-century. Star pacer Haris Rauf and Abrar Ahmed picked three wickets apiece.

In the chase, Fakhar Zaman and Saim Ayub added 77

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