Karachi, November 15, 2025: Legendary England batter Kevin Pietersen took a humorous approach to Pakistan star Babar Azam’s return to form, jokingly claiming credit for the batter ending his two-year international century drought.
Pietersen, who played 104 Tests, 136 ODIs, and 37 T20Is for England, shared a behind-the-scenes picture from a net session with Babar on X (formerly Twitter). “My net session with [Babar Azam] definitely helped him get his flow back and scoring 100s again!” he captioned the post, adding a Rolling on the Floor Laughing emoji.
The session was part of Pietersen’s September initiative, The Switch, where he interacts with top current cricketers.
Babar, who last scored an international century against Nepal at the ACC Men’s Asia Cup 2023, finally breached triple figures after 83 innings and 807 days. His unbeaten 102 off 119 balls guided Pakistan to an eight-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in the second ODI.
The century marked Babar’s 20th in ODIs, equalling Saeed Anwar’s record for Pakistan:
| Player | Centuries | Innings |
| Saeed Anwar | 20 | 244 |
| Babar Azam | 20 | 136 |
| Mohammad Yousuf | 15 | 267 |
| Fakhar Zaman | 11 | 90 |
Babar also surpassed AB de Villiers to become the third-fastest batter in men’s ODI history to reach 20 centuries, achieving the milestone 39 innings faster than the former South African captain. Only Hashim Amla (108 innings) and Virat Kohli (133 innings) are ahead of him on the list.
