With Pakistan struggling, skipper Babar Azam played a resilient knock against Australia on the fourth day of the second Test match in Karachi. He was unbeaten when the Stumps was called upon with his own score reading 102*. Set a daunting 506-run target, Azam knocked his sixth Test century — and second against Australia — to guide Pakistan to 192-2 and raise hopes of an improbable victory, or even a fighting draw.
At the close Azam was unbeaten on 102 and Shafique 71 as the pair added 171 for the third wicket, leaving the home team needing another 314 runs in the 90 overs of the final day for a win, or bat out three sessions for the draw. Meanwhile on the final day too he led his assault on the visitors only to lose his wicket for 196. This meant he missed out on a double hundred in the fourth innings. But in the process, he went past the likes of Don Bradman, Ricky Ponting and Virat Kohli. Yes, he now owns the highest individual score in fourth innings.
“The match hasn’t finished yet,” Azam told the host broadcasters. “We need to continue batting like this and keep the belief (to create history).
“Definitely, my hundred was needed by the team and my plan was to build a partnership, which Shafique and I did, but we need to continue like this (on Wednesday).”
Pakistan lost Imam-ul-Haq (one) and Azhar Ali (six) before Shafique and Azam led the fightback, leaving Australia wicketless in the last session — despite taking the second new ball after 80 overs.
Azam top-edged a sweep off spinner Mitchell Swepson towards short fine-leg for two to reach the three-figure mark, his first in 21 innings since his 143 against Bangladesh in Rawalpindi in February 2020.
His hundred came in 247 minutes with 12 boundaries.
Shafique was as solid as his skipper, having so far hit four boundaries and a six as he and Azam batted defiantly for 265 minutes.
No team has ever chased more than the 418-7 the West Indies amassed against Australia at Antigua in 2003, while Pakistan’s highest successful chase was 377 against Sri Lanka at Pallekele in 2015.
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