Five consecutive tons in the UAE for Babar Azam

Pakistan's young sensation Babar Azam raced to his seventh ODI century in just his 33rd innings, making him the quickest to the mark. He got there eight innings quicker than, who scored it in his 41st innings. Among Pakistan batsmen, the quickest was Zaheer Abbas in 42 innings.

The century in the second ODI was Azam's fifth successive one in the UAE. He's the first ever player to score five consecutive centuries in a country. He had hit three in three games against West Indies last year before this series. The previous record holder in this case was AB de Villiers with four tons in a row in India. Among Pakistan players, Zaheer Abbas and Saeed Anwar had scored three successive tons in the UAE. Azam's five tons are now the second-most by any player in the UAE, trailing the seven scored by Anwar and Sachin Tendulkar

Azam scored his first century on September 30, 2016 and has made seven since. All other Pakistan batsmen have a combined three hundreds in this period: one each for Azhar Ali, Shoaib Malik and Fakhar Zaman. David Warner is the only other player to score seven centuries in this period.

One thing that has stood out in the last 13 months is his Azam's conversion rate of fifties into hundreds. In the 18 innings since the start of series against West Indies last year, Azam has failed to make a century only once after going past 50. That was against Australia at the WACA, when he was dismissed for 84. In 15 innings prior to this period, he had scored five fifties but couldn't convert any of those into hundreds. Out of 11 players who have scored three or more centuries in this period, no other player matches the fifties to hundreds conversion rate of Babar's 87.50%. Warner is next on the list with 77.78% - with seven hundreds from nine 50-plus scores.

Azam averaged 37.57 from his first 15 innings, but since unravelling his century habit, he has averaged 75.53 in 18 innings. Only Virat Kohli (81.84) averages higher than Azam in this period among 41 players scoring who have scored a minimum of 500 runs.

All seven of Azam's hundreds have come at the No. 3 position. In 17 innings, he has scored 1118 runs at that position at an average of 79.85. His average at No. 3 is the best among 58 players with a minimum of 1000 runs. He has already reached seventh position among batsmen with most centuries at the No. 3 position. Overall, his average of 57.20 is second only to Ryan ten Doeschate among 358 players with a minimum of 1000 runs. No Pakistan batsman who has batted more than 10 innings at No.3 averages more than 50.