Rock-solid Babar and Rizwan save Pakistan

KARACHI: It was an innings of epic proportions from Babar Azam which helped Pakistan save the second Test here at the National Stadium on Wednesday.

The Pakistan skipper hit a career-best 196 and together with his deputy Mohammad Rizwan (104*) and opener Abdulllah Shafiq(96) thwarted a rampaging Australian attack with a dramatic draw to keep the three-Test series at 0-0. The third Test begins in Lahore on Sunday.

Babar, who batted for over ten hours and faced 425 balls, came agonisingly close to recording his first ever Test double ton. But he did his jon, playing the lead role in two match-saving partnerships with Abdullah and Rizwan.

His 228-run partnership with Abdullah in almost 86 overs — just the fourth time in history that a third-wicket stand surpassed 200 in the fourth innings of a Test — provided Pakistan with the foundation they needed. And his union for the fifth wicket with Rizwan that produced 115 runs managed to keep Australia at bay after the fall of Abdullah and Fawad Alam (9).

Such was Babar’s role in Pakistan’s rescue mission that his fall with just 12.2 overs to go left the hosts in a tricky situation as they lost a flurry of wickets before Rizwan steered them to safety. Pakistan finished with 447-7 from 171.4 overs, 63 runs shorts of a mammoth victory target of 506.

The Australians toiled hard for 90 final day overs. They were both luckless and untidy in the field and had to pay the price as they allowed Pakistan off the hook despite being in a commanding position.

The tourists dropped a series of catches including that of Babar and Rizwan. They also received a bit of a raw deal when two DRS decisions went against them.

But all that aside, the Karachi Test will be remembered for the heroics of three men led by Babar, whose 196 is the highest fourth innings score by a captain in Test history.

Babar knew that he had to play a big innings for Pakistan to have any chance of saving the Test. He combined rock-solid defence with elegant stroke-play to blunt a fancied Australian attack that included Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon. He hit 21 fours and a six in what is perhaps his best Test knock yet and received great support from Abdullah and Rizwan.

Abdullah was unlucky to miss out on his second ton of the series when he nicked Cummins straight to Steve Smith in the slips. But his 305-ball knock which lasted for 465 minutes gave Pakistan a lot of self-belief.

Fawad’s poor series continued when he fell cheaply to Cummins but Rizwan managed to overcome some anxious moments early on to play a key role in Pakistan’s fightback. His unbeaten 104 came off 177 balls and included 11 fours and a six.

Pakistan never really showed much intent to win the Test except briefly after the tea interval when they hit a series of boundaries in quick succession. But then they slowed down with Babar and Rizwan seemingly taking them towards safety without much fuss.

However, the 160th over of the innings bowled by the seasoned Lyon, changed the scenario.

It was then that Babar’s marathon innings ended as he proded a bat pad catch to Marnus Labuchagne at forward short leg. There was more drama when Faheem Ashraf fell the very next ball caught by Smith in the slips. Lyon then scalped Sajid Khan — his third wicket within a short span — and suddenly, Australia were smelling blood.

With 19 balls left, Australia squandered a huge opportunity when Usman Khawaja dropped a straightforward catch from Rizwan’s bat at cover off Mitchell Swepson, who finished with 0-156 from 53.4 overs.

The debutant did bowl loose deliveries occasionally but was unlucky not to get a wicket as he created a series of opportunities with his sharp turn. Despite his wicketless finish, the leggie received praise from his skipper.

“Swepson bowled fantastically and especially in the session before tea there were umpire calls, half chances dropped off his bowling and batsmen played and missed. Lyon also bowled well,” Cummins said after the match.

Cummins rued dropped catches saying that the result could have been different had his team capitalised on them.

“Think the positive thing is each time we’ve created more than 10 chances,” he said. “[It’s] probably the disappointing thing this game as well. If we took a couple of those catches it might be a different scenario.”

Apart from Khawaja’s costly spill, Babar was also given a reprieve at 161 Babar when Travis Head dropped a reflex catching chance at silly point off Swepson.

Score Board

Australia won the toss

Australia 1st innings 556/9d

Pakistan 1st innings 148 all out

Australia 2nd Innings 97/2d

Pakistan 2nd Innings (Target: 506 runs)

Shafique c Smith b Cummins 96

Imam-ul-Haq lbw b Lyon 1

Azhar lbw b Green 6

Babar (c) c Labuschagne b Lyon 196

Fawad c †Carey b Cummins 9

Rizwan† not out 104

Faheem c Smith b Lyon 0

Sajid c Smith b Lyon 9

Nauman not out 0

Extras: (b 8, lb 2, nb 5, w 7) 22

Total: (171.4 Ov) 443/7

Did not bat: Hasan Ali, Shaheen Shah Afridi

Fall: 1-2, 5.5 ov 2-21, 22.2 ov 3-249, 108.6 ov 4-277, 118.3 ov 5-392, 159.4 ov 6-392, 159.5 ov 7-414, 163.6 ov

Bowling: Mitchell Starc 21-6-58-0 Pat Cummins 26-6-75-2 Mitchell Swepson 53.4-8-156-0 Nathan Lyon 55-20-112-4 Cameron Green 15-4-32-1 Marnus Labuschagne 1-1-0-0

Man of the match: Babar Azam (Pak)

Test Debut: Mitchell Swepson

Umpires: Ahsan Raza, Aleem Dar