Saim Ayub is all anyone can talk about after the role he played in securing Pakistan an extraordinary 3-0 victory over South Africa in the ODI series.

 

As fans shower praise at Saim for his display of batting masterclass, former national team captain Babar Azam has also called him a "cheetah" in a story on his Instagram.

 

 

"Cheetah" is often used to praise someone for being incredibly fast, agile and efficient in their actions. It is also informally, and commonly, used as a praise in Urdu and Punjabi languages.  

 

Babar's Instagram story comes after Pakistan swept South Africa in the three-match ODI series, and Saim, the young left-handed opener, played a major role in the same.

 

The former skipper, who himself returned to form in the ODI series and scored back-to-back half-centuries, could not help but praise the youngster's batting for scoring two consecutive 100s.

 

Saim was named Player of the Match in the last ODI. He also received the Player of the Series award for his performance.

 

In a separate post, Babar also wished his friend and national team opener Imam Ul Haq on his birthday.

 

 

Pakistan has whitewashed South Africa in a three-match ODI series after defeating Protease by 36 runs in the third and last ODI of the series.

 

The match being played in Johannesburg was delayed due to rain. When the toss was held after the rain stopped, the South African captain won the toss and invited the visiting team to bat. After the match started, the game had to be stopped again due to rain and three overs were reduced.

Batting first, the national team scored 308 runs for nine wickets in the stipulated 47 overs, thanks to Saim Ayub's brilliant century. Pakistan fell one run short due to the delayed start of the innings, and South Africa got a target of 308 runs.

Opener Saim Ayub played an innings of 101 runs; Saim Ayub scored a century in 91 balls, and his innings included 13 fours and two sixes.

Apart from them, captain Muhammad Rizwan scored 53, Babar Azam scored 52 runs, vice-captain Salman Agha scored 48, and Tayyab Tahir scored 28 runs.

For the host team, Rabada took three wickets, while Marco Jensen and Fortuion took two wickets each.

 

In response, South Africa could score 271 runs in 42 overs.

 

Tony de Zorzi scored 26,  Rassie Van Der Dussen 35, Aiden Markram 19, Heinrich Klassen 86, Marco Jansen 26 and Corbin Bosch scored 40 runs for South Africa.

 

Sufiyan Muqeem took four, while Naseem Shah and Shaheen Afridi took two wickets each for Pakistan.