“She proved to be good luck for me”: Babar Azam on his mother’s presence in stadium during PSL century

New Delhi [India]: Former Pakistan skipper and Peshawar Zalmi skipper Babar Azam gave credit to his mother for bringing good luck after he scored a century against Islamabad United in the ongoing Pakistan Super League (PSL).

Peshawar clinched an 8-run win over Islamabad on Monday to clinch their third consecutive win of the ongoing season. Babar opened alongside Saim Ayub and played a blistering knock of 111* in 63 deliveries, which was laced with 11 fours and two maximums.

Babar’s mother was also present during the match, Babar went on to describe the special moment as well as his influential knock.

“My mother came [to watch] for the first time. She’s very happy. She enjoyed it. She always watches at home but she proved to be [a source of] good luck for me. She came to watch the match and I scored a hundred,” Babar said, as quoted from Geo News.

Babar’s knock played an instrumental role in helping Peshawar reach a competitive total of 201/5. In reply, Peshawar managed to restrict Islamabad on 193/9. Colin Munro and Azam Khan fought valiantly with their respective knocks of 71 and 75. However, their efforts weren’t enough to steer their team towards victory.

The former Pakistan skipper went through a barren phase during last year’s World Cup and the Test series against Australia. During the ICC event, the right-handed batter amassed just 320 runs with a strike rate of 82.90. After Pakistan crashed out of the tournament, Babar stepped down from the captaincy of all formats, and Shaheen Afridi was named as the T20I skipper.

However, in the first three games of the five-match T20I series against New Zealand, Babar showed glimpses of returning to his peak.

Against the Kiwis, the experienced batter registered scores of 57, 66 and 58. Overall, in the series, he amassed 213 runs at an average of 42.6.