Babar Azam, who won Player of the Match award, helped Pakistan draw the second Test in Karachi.
Pakistan skipper Babar Azam on Wednesday (16th March) said that his knock in the second innings against Australia in the Karachi Test was one of his best.
The second Test between Pakistan and Australia went down the wire. Batting first, after winning the toss, the visitors posted a mammoth total of 556 runs on the board and then bundled out the hosts for just 148 runs. The Pat Cummins-led side then set a target of 506 runs to chase after declaring their second innings on 97/2.
Chasing the target, Pakistan showed great fight and resilience as skipper Babar Azam led from the front and scored masterful 196 runs. He also broke Michael Atherton’s record for the highest score by any captain in the fourth innings of a Test match.
Azam, who won Player of the Match award, stitched together a 228-run partnership with Abdullah Shafique (96) and 115-run stand with Mohammad Rizwan 104*) helping his side draw the match after a poor show in the first innings.
Speaking at the post-match press conference, Babar Azam credited his team for having self-belief. He rated his knock as one of the best he has played and said that he’s glad that it helped his side draw the match.
“I think credit goes to the team for having a lot of self belief in themselves and coming back strongly after batting poorly in the first innings. My innings is definitely one of my better ones and I am glad it helped us draw the match,” Babar Azam said.
Pakistan skipper further revealed that they planned to take things session by session and didn’t think about the result. He admitted that although reverse swing was on offer, they had some soft dismissals in the first innings.
“In the second innings every one gave his 100 percent because we had self-belief in ourselves we could save the match. We decided to take it session by session and not think too much ahead.
“In Karachi, you usually get some reverse swing and the Australian bowlers got some on the third day and we contributed with some soft dismissals,” he said.
The third Test between Pakistan and Australia will be played from 21st March in Lahore.
(PTI inputs)