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T20 Blast: Babar Azam hits outstanding 114 as Somerset thrash Glamorgan

T20 Blast: Babar Azam hits outstanding 114 as Somerset thrash Glamorgan
September 17, 2020
SOMERSET (Web Desk) - Pakistani star Babar Azam, with a career-best 114 not out from only 62 balls, enabled Somerset to set up a formidable total which was enough for them to gain their third win in the competition, and give them an outside chance of qualifying for the quarter-finals. Babar's stunning 114 not out from 62 balls - his third T20 Blast ton in 11 matches - helped Somerset end a run of three defeats as they hammered Glamorgan in Cardiff by 66 runs. According to an update on the Somerset County cricket club's Twitter account, the team ended "with 183/3 from 20 overs". "Magnificent from Babar Azam (114* from 62) and Lewis Goldsworthy on debut (38* from 29)," Somerset added. Babar Azam — ranked among the top T20 batters — rejoined Somerset for this year's domestic T20 Blast, the county had announced last month. He was the leading run-scorer in the 2019 edition. Currently captaining Pakistan in their T20 series in England after featuring in all three Tests earlier in the tour, the cricketer had agreed to return to southwest club Somerset before the coronavirus pandemic upended cricket schedules around the world. The 25-year-old is playing Somerset's final seven group matches plus the knockout stages should they qualify. "He is a great player, is so easy on the eye and fitted brilliantly into our environment last year," Somerset director of cricket Andy Hurry said about the Pakistani star, who had compiled 578 runs at an impressive average of 52.54 in his first season with the county. "We consider Babar to be one of our own," Hurry had said last month. The cricketer was toppled by England's Dawid Malan as the top T20 international (T20I) batter in the International Cricket Council's (ICC) batting rankings earlier this month, pushing Azam to the second position. Australia's Aaron Finch and Colin Munro, as well as India's Lokesh Rahul, remained in the top five positions.