Ian Bishop lauds Babar Azam after latter played a marathon of an innings for Pakistan on Day 5 of the second Test match against Australia.
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A glance at the usual report of the second Test match of the ongoing Australia’s historic tour of Pakistan in Karachi would term Pakistan skipper Babar Azam as unlucky for missing out on an opportunity to score his maiden double century in Tests.
However, coming into bat post Lunch on Day 4 with the scorecard reading 21/2, and with around 150 Overs yet to be bowled, Azam (196) stood his ground and kept batting and batting defiantly to play out as many as 425 deliveries on a track which had developed cracks, led to formation of roughs for the spinner, and had variable bounce – enough for the Australian bowlers to naturally expect batters to commit an error with the amount of time left in the match.
But Azam and Abdullah Shafique (96) together batted a mind-boggling 137 Overs, as their 228-run partnership laid a foundation for the batters to even think of going for the chase at one point in time (as stated by Mohammad Rizwan post the match).
Eventually, a late, spirited comeback by the Aussies during the final session, meant that Pakistan posted 443/7 in 171 Overs to register a famous Draw, while also entering into the record books.
Ian Bishop lauds Babar Azam
West Indies’ legendary pacer-turned commentator Ian Bishop took to his social media handle to heap praise on the Pakistani skipper, who became only the 4th batter in history of Test Cricket to face more than 400 deliveries during the fourth innings of a Test.
While admitting to have watched him bat a bit, Bishop hailed Babar’s masterclass of an innings, while hoping that he goes on to dominate this decade with the bat.
Watched a bit of the Babar Azam Master class this morning. He is some player, as we’ve know for a while. Here’s to hoping he goes on to dominate this decade as others have before him.
— Ian Raphael Bishop (@irbishi) March 16, 2022
While this was the 27-year-old’s sixth century and his highest score in Test career so far, the batter from Lahore also struck the highest fourth-innings score by a captain in the longest format of the game.
While the Pakistani batters merely fell 63 runs short of the seemingly improbable target, they batted out the fifth-most Overs ever during the fourth innings of a Test.
