Karachi, Pakistan: Babar Azam’s 196 and Mohammad Rizwan’s scintillating century helped Pakistan suffer a defeat in the second Test against Australia on Wednesday.
Australia, on their first tour of Pakistan in 28 years, needed eight wickets on the final day to lead 1-0 in the three-Test series.
On the other hand, Pakistan needed 314 runs in 90 overs to chase the biggest target of Test cricket.
Alternatively, he had to bat for three seasons to force a draw, which he did in the end.
Babar and Abdullah Shafiq (96) put on a marathon 228-run partnership for the third wicket and then Rizwan put on an unbeaten 104-run partnership as Pakistan finished at 443-7, their sixth highest fourth-innings stand of all time.
Nathan Lyon (4-112) turned the game on its head with successive deliveries to Babar and Faheem Ashraf in the final session, but Rizwan’s second Test century took Australia three wickets away from victory.
“The plan was to bat session-by-session and build partnerships,” said Babar, whose 10-hour masterclass earned him the player of the match award.
“It was a team effort, as other people made useful contributions as well.”
“We tried to stay positive and play our shots. The team needed this innings so I tried to bat for as long as possible.”
A record winning target of 506 runs was a far cry for Pakistan, who were on the backfoot after a massive first innings lead of 408.
Despite being dismissed for the first three days of competition, his best bet was to try to bat and draw on the final day.
Pat Cummins’ decision to not implement the follow-on will be questioned and Australia also did not help him with his poor catch.
Steve Smith dismissed Abdullah when the opener was on 20 on Tuesday and Usman Khawaja dismissed Rizwan for 91 in the final session.
Babar also got back-to-back relief when Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne failed to take advantage of a sharp opportunity in debutant Mitchell Swepson’s over.
Cummins lamented those missed opportunities but was not too unhappy with his performance.
“I’m really proud of the efforts,” he said.
The way we batted, the way we hunted, the way we took wickets with reverse swing on the third day, that was also fantastic.
“We were always ahead of the game, so really proud of the boys,” Cummins said.
With the first two Tests ending in draws, it will be the winner in the third and final Test in Lahore on Monday.
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