Babar’s counter-punching ton keeps defiant Pakistan alive in Karachi Test

Mir Shabbar Ali Published March 16, 2022

Pakistan captain Babar Azam plays a sweep shot as Australian wicket-keeper Alex Carey and close-in fielder Travis Head watch during the second Test at the National Stadium on Tuesday.—AP

KARACHI: How quickly things change in cricket.

Pakistan went into the second Test against Australia with skipper Babar Azam in bullish mood, saying his team had the momentum after dominating Australia in the drawn first game on a batting paradise in Rawalpindi.

Five days later, Babar arrived at the crease with Pakistan stuttering and with Australia having all the momentum.

Chasing a world record 506 runs to win in their second innings, Pakistan had been reduced to 21-2 on Tuesday with Australia sniffing victory on a deteriorating National Stadium surface.

They had skittled Pakistan out for 148 in their first innings and a similar collapse seemed on the cards.

Pakistan were in a hole and needed Babar more than ever. The captain responded and dragged them out.

With an innings that was more counter-punching than a rearguard action, Babar stroked a glorious unbeaten 102 for his first century in two years to keep Pakistan’s hopes alive.

The stylish right-hander stitched an unbroken 171-run third-wicket partnership with opener Abdullah Shafique (71 not out) and the duo will be key to Pakistan getting the remaining 314 runs they need to win or batting three sessions to get a draw on Wednesday’s final day.

The match might still be tilted in Australia’s favour but Abdullah believed the momentum was back with Pakistan.

“We have good momentum, but there are already rough patches on the wicket and it will be a big challenge for us tomorrow,” he told an online news conference after Pakistan closed day four on 192-2.

Babar said he and Abdullah needed to carry on in the same vein if Pakistan were to create history.

“This hundred means a lot to me, it came just when the team needed it,” Babar told the host broadcaster. “We lost a couple of early wickets so the plan was to build a partnership with Abdullah and then extend it.

“The match hasn’t finished yet. We’ll try to continue this partnership tomorrow and the subsequent batsmen would have to show patience too. We need to keep believing.”

Resuming at 81-1, Australia declared their second innings at 97-2 after batting for the first 25 minutes of the morning session and extending their lead to 505 after Marnus Labuschagne fell for 44, dragging Shaheen Shah Afridi back onto his own stumps.

Pakistan-born Usman Khawaja was unbeaten on 44 at the other end as the declaration came, giving Australia nearly two full days to bowl Pakistan out at the National Stadium, where the hosts have lost only twice in 44 Tests.

OPENER Abdullah Shafique in action during his defiant half-century.—AFP

Australia are on the wrong end of the greatest fourth innings chase in Test cricket history after the West Indies amassed 418 against them in Antigua in 2003 but Pakistan — who’s highest successful run chase of 382 came against Sri Lanka in Pallekele in 2015 — never looked close to challenging them when they got off to the worst possible start.

Abdullah and fellow opener Imam-ul-Haq went scoreless in the first four overs of pace by Mitchell Starc and his captain Pat Cummins.

Seeking a quick breakthrough, Cummins put on spinners from both ends and was immediately rewarded when Nathan Lyon struck in his first over.

Fresh from scoring centuries in both innings of the Rawalpindi Test, Imam perished when he was caught plumb in front of the wicket for one.

Veteran Azhar Ali took just over an hour to make six before he was dismissed just after lunch.

Trying to evade a Cameron Green’s short-pitched delivery that never rose, Azhar was trapped lbw even though television replays showed a spike coming off the gloves before it hit him on the body.

Azhar chose not to review despite having a long chat with Abdullah, with Imam having already wasted one when he was dismissed.

That brought Babar to the crease but he could’ve lost Abdullah soon after.

Then at 20, Abdullah gave a straightforward catch to Steve Smith in the slips off Cummins but the Australian vice-captain grassed it.

Babar then stamped his dominance. He got Pakistan’s first boundary of the innings in the 26th over when he cut debutant spinner Mitchell Swepson to the point boundary.

From there on, he and Abdullah didn’t look back, displaying immense grit and composure to take Pakistan to 104-2 at tea while also negating the reverse swing, which had caused the home side’s downfall in their first innings.

“Yesterday, we got reverse swing going with the hard ball, but today they got through that period and once the ball got softened they played very well,” Australia’s batting coach Michael Di Venuto said, noting that the rough patches and cracks on the pitch still favour Australia on Wednesday. “But we’ve got a pretty important breakthrough or two to get first.”

That didn’t happen in Tuesday’s final session.

“We talked about how we’ve managed to settle and negotiated a period where the ball was reversing and decided to try and continue that throughout our partnership,” Abdullah said about his and Babar’s discussion while they walked off at tea.

The duo began pouncing on all loose deliveries by the Australians and most boundaries came when they pulled and cut the pacers who were trying to use the variable bounce. Overall, Babar got 12 fours while Abdullah got a six and four boundaries.

As Babar closed in on his century, he had some anxious moments at Cummins returned for a spell.

Cummins tested Babar with short balls and some fast and accurate in-swinging yorkers but the latter responded accordingly.

At 99, Babar was almost undone by a yorker by Cummins and almost dragged another delivery onto his stumps before he brought up his century just as the golden hour struck the National Stadium by sweeping Swepson for two runs.

Babar didn’t celebrate much, gesturing towards his team-mates in the dressing room to keep a check on their excitement. He knows there still a lot of work to do. But thanks to him, Pakistan are still in contention.

Scoreboard

AUSTRALIA (1st Innings) 556-9 decl (Usman Khawaja 160, A. Carey 93, S. Smith 72; Faheem Ashraf 2-55 Sajid Khan 2-167)

PAKISTAN (1st Innings) 148 (Babar Azam 36; M. Starc 3-29)

AUSTRALIA (2nd Innings, overnight 81-1):

Usman Khawaja not out 44

D. Warner c Fawad b Hasan 7

M. Labuschagne b Shaheen 44

EXTRAS (LB-2) 2

TOTAL: (for 2 wickets decl, 22.3 overs) 97

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-20 (Warner), 2-97 (Labuschagne)

DID NOT BAT: S. Smith, T. Head, C. Green, A. Carey, M. Starc, P. Cummins, M. Swepson, N. Lyon

BOWLING (to-date): Shaheen (6.3-0-21-1), Hasan (7-0-23-1), Sajid (5-0-31-0), Faheem (3-0-13-0), (Nauman) 1-0-7-0