Saeed Anwar was a fantastic cricketer for Pakistan in the 1990s, especially with his ability to score centuries, which enabled Pakistan to win many matches at the time. Your next inquiry will be how many centuries he has scored. Wait, let me give you some more facts about his class, consistency, and elegance.
- He was the first player in ODI cricket to reach the milestone of 20 centuries. This total was later surpassed by Sachin Tendulkar.
- After Zaheer Abbas, he was the second ODI batter to have scored 03 consecutive centuries in ODI cricket. He achieved this feat in the 1993 champions trophy. Babar Azam scored three centuries in a row and became third Pakistani batter.
- Due to his century-scoring habit in ODI, he was named Wisden cricketer of 1997.
- He was the first player from Pakistan to score 10000 runs in international cricket.
- He was the best-scoring opener of the 1990-2000 decade, scoring the most runs, 6467 in 166 innings. Sachin Tendulkar was ranked in the second position.
Saeed Anwar Total Centuries in All Formats
Saeed Anwar has scored 31 centuries in all formats. He was the highest century scorer for Pakistan, which was surpassed by Inzamam, Yousuf, and Younis Khan.
His home centuries in Pakistan are 07 in all formats, while away centuries are 24. One of the best things about his centuries is his highest strike rate. His average strike rate in each century he scored was more than 70 in all formats. This is a key achievement showing his passion and hunger for runs and scoring hundreds.
Out of total 31 centuries, 24 came in winning cause for his country. He scored the remaining 05 centuries lost cause.
Sharjah cricket ground was his favorite stadium to score hundreds. He scored 07 centuries at Sharjah cricket stadium.
Saeed Anwar Yearly Centuries
Saeed Anwar’s first century came in ODI in 1990. Similarly, it took 04 years to score his first century in test cricket. The Years 1996,1998 and 1999 were the most successful years with several centuries. He scored 05 centuries in all formats in 1996. In the 1990s, it was difficult to score centuries on regular bases in a calendar year. But Saeed Anwar did it with relative ease, which is why he is still regarded as Pakistan’s top blaster.
| Year | Test | ODI | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | – | 02 | 02 |
| 1991 | – | – | 0 |
| 1992 | – | – | 0 |
| 1993 | – | 04 | 04 |
| 1994 | 02 | 01 | 03 |
| 1995 | – | 01 | 01 |
| 1996 | 02 | 03 | 05 |
| 1997 | – | 03 | 03 |
| 1998 | 03 | 01 | 04 |
| 1999 | 02 | 02 | 04 |
| 2000 | 01 | 02 | 03 |
| 2001 | 01 | – | 01 |
| 2002 | – | – | 0 |
| 2003 | – | 01 | 01 |
Saeed Anwar Centuries by Opposition
He scored centuries against all test-playing nations. Most of his centuries are scored against India and Sri Lanka. He scored 09 centuries against Sri Lanka and 05 against India.
Matches between India and Pakistan were really popular during his time. He was a crowd favorite and had both Indian and Pakistani followers. His excellent batting capabilities, which were aggressive by nature, were enjoyed by many. Saeed Anwar’s excellence was difficult to find in cricket at this time. His accidental retirement from cricket brought his followers a great deal of sorrow.
Saeed Anwar Centuries as Captain
As a captain, Saeed Anwar has scored 02 centuries. He was made occasional captain in a few series and he utilized this opportunity very well with the bat.
Saeed Anwar Centuries in ICC Events
Saeed Anwar has scored 05 centuries in ICC events. Out of 05, two centuries came in ICC Champions Trophy while 03 came in World Cup.
Saeed Anwar Test Centuries List
Saeed Anwar has scored 11 centuries in Test Cricket. He played only 51 test matches to achieve this milestone. He is one of the fewest players introducing aggressive batting in Test cricket as an opener.
Modern cricket is now adapting to his way of batting in this decade. Below is a detailed list of all his test centuries:
| Runs | Balls | 4s | 6s | SR | Opponent |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 169 | 248 | 27 | 0 | 68.14 | New Zealand |
| 136 | 218 | 12 | 0 | 62.38 | Sri Lanka |
| 176 | 264 | 26 | 0 | 66.66 | England |
| 149 | 214 | 20 | 0 | 69.62 | New Zealand |
| 118 | 209 | 18 | 0 | 56.45 | South Africa |
| 145 | 275 | 12 | 0 | 52.72 | Australia |
| 126 | 225 | 18 | 3 | 56 | Australia |
| 188* | 259 | 23 | 1 | 72.58 | India |
| 119 | 174 | 20 | 0 | 68.39 | Australia |
| 123 | 237 | 12 | 2 | 51.89 | Sri Lanka |
| 101 | 104 | 17 | 1 | 97.11 | Bangladesh |
Saeed Anwar ODI Centuries List
Saeed Anwar is one of Pakistan’s most reputed openers in ODI cricket. After his retirement, Pakistan has been missing to date. The pair of Saeed and Ammir Sohail is the best opening pair in ODI for Pakistan.
Saeed Anwar has 20 ODI centuries in 247 matches with a batting average of 39. He played his most memorable hundred against India in Chennai, scoring 194 runs on just 146 balls. This was the highest number of runs in a single ODI match for 13 years that Sachin broke in 2009. Below is the complete list of his ODI hundreds:
| Runs | Balls | 4s | 6s | S/R | Opponent |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 126 | 99 | 8 | 6 | 127.27 | Sri Lanka |
| 101 | 115 | 11 | 0 | 87.82 | New Zealand |
| 110 | 105 | 9 | 1 | 104.76 | Sri Lanka |
| 107 | 108 | 11 | 2 | 99.07 | Sri Lanka |
| 131 | 141 | 12 | 3 | 92.9 | West Indies |
| 111 | 104 | 11 | 2 | 106.73 | Sri Lanka |
| 104* | 119 | 13 | 1 | 87.39 | Australia |
| 103* | 131 | 6 | 0 | 78.62 | Zimbabwe |
| 115 | 120 | 13 | 1 | 95.83 | Sri Lanka |
| 104* | 132 | 3 | 2 | 78.78 | New Zealand |
| 112* | 125 | 7 | 1 | 89.6 | Sri Lanka |
| 194 | 146 | 22 | 5 | 132.87 | India |
| 108* | 129 | 13 | 0 | 83.72 | West Indies |
| 104 | 128 | 8 | 1 | 81.25 | India |
| 140 | 132 | 14 | 2 | 106.06 | India |
| 103 | 144 | 11 | 0 | 71.52 | Zimbabwe |
| 113* | 148 | 9 | 0 | 76.35 | New Zealand |
| 105* | 134 | 12 | 1 | 78.35 | Sri Lanka |
| 104 | 115 | 16 | 0 | 90.43 | New Zealand |
| 101 | 126 | 7 | 0 | 80.15 | India |
Conclusion
If we were to summarise Saeed Anwar’s century-long career in one word, he was extraordinary, exceptional, and ahead of his time. He played those innings that were very unusual at that time. Batters in the 1990s were very slow pickers of the ball and preferred to score single or double rather than boundaries. But for Saeed Anwar, things were quite different as he was a very aggressive batter. He always prefers to hit sixes and fours rather than single or double. He still holds a place among the greatest cricketers ever to bat. Undoubtedly, he was the run machine of 1990s in ODI and Test cricket.
His sudden exit from cricket was very sad for the entire cricket family. But he had done his job of inspiring many youngsters of his time. A lot of left-handed talent emerged after Saeed Anwar’s era. They were all followers of Saeed Anwar batting style, perfection, and talent. In fact, they still praise his batting talent. Sharjeel Khan, David Warner, Kusal Perera, and Alastair Cook are some of the fine examples who followed his style and succeeded.
Source: Cricbuzz
