RAWALPINDI: Pakistan's opening batter Fakhar Zaman smashed a third consecutive century in ODI cricket.
Fakhar, while representing Pakistan against New Zealand in second ODI of five-match series in Rawalpindi on Saturday, scored a magnificent century which was his third in a row against the same opposition.
During the last ODI against New Zealand in January this year, Fakhar scored 101 off 122 balls. The left-handed batter carried the same form in the ongoing ODI series where he scored a century each in the first two ODIs.
Overall, Fakhar is the only fourth Pakistani to score three consecutive tons.
Set to chase 337 runs today, Fakhar set the perfect momentum for Pakistan. After scoring 98 runs, Fakhar has also completed his 3,000 runs in 50-overs format.
Fakhar achieved the feat in a total of 67 innings, making him the fastest Asian to score as many runs. He has also become the joint player globally to score the 3,000 runs second fastest.
Before Fakhar, West Indies Shai Hope smashed 3,000 ODI runs in the same number of innings. South Africa's Hashim Amla holds the record of achieving the feat fastest in 57 innings.
Pakistan skipper Babar Azam has achieved the milestone in 68 innings, West Indies great Viv Richards in 98.
In March during the Pakistan Super League (PSL) season 8, Zaman — while representing Lahore Qalandars — became the player to hit the most sixes (100) in the history of the tournament.
Zaman has represented Pakistan in three Test matches, scoring 192 runs, 76 T20I in which he was able to amass 1,433 runs, and 67 ODIs in which he smashed more than 3,000 runs.