Pakistan’s batting sensation Saim Ayub scored a magnificent century in the third and final ODI of the series against South Africa. The 22-year-old scored a brilliant 94-ball 101 to help the Men in Green cross the 300-run mark in Johannesburg.
This was Ayub’s second ton of the series after he had also reached a 3-digit score during the first ODI of the series in Paarl which Pakistan ended up winning by 3 wickets.
With the ton in Johannesburg, Ayub joined an elite list of visiting batters with multiple hundreds 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.
In a contest which saw the overs get reduced to 47 due to rain interruptions, Ayub went all out and smashed 13 boundaries and 2 sixes in his fantastic knock. His fiery innings propelled Pakistan to a competitive total of 308 runs.
The duo of Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan also played valiant knocks of 52 and 53 respectively. Finally, Salman Ali Agha (48) and Tayyab Tahir (28) also played very important cameos to guide Pakistan to the big total.
South Africa now face the difficult task of chasing the total in Johannesburg. If they aren’t able to do so then Pakistan will complete a remarkable series whitewash over the Proteas.
