At the age of 35, Azhar Ali's 17th Test hundred in the first innings of the third and final game of this series against England is being looked at as the most important hundred of his career playing for Pakistan.
The skipper was facing heavy criticism for his team's poor results on the field coinciding with his own lacklustre performances with the bat. He was being deemed a 'walking wicket' by prominent voices in the commentary box, with that LBW issue now becoming almost career-threatening.
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However, the right-hand batsman made a slight technical adjustment, opening up an inch to allow the bat to come down straighter, and brought all his resolve into play against an English attack with hardly any easy end to score runs off.
Responding to England's mammoth 583/8 (declared), Pakistan found itself 6/1 when Ali arrived at the crease, which soon became 75/5, but he didn't give up and overcame his drought of runs with a memorable knock of 141 not out in his team's 273 all out by the end of Day 3.
Batting through, the only time Ali had some support was when wicketkeeper batsman Mohammad Rizwan (53) stuck with him during that 138-run sixth-wicket stand.
In the course of his stay, Ali added himself to the list of rare Pakistani batsmen with over 6,000 Test match runs. He got there in his 81st Test, averaging 42.94.
Being asked to follow-on late last evening, Pakistan still has a task at hand to try and survive with a draw, but Ali's innings has at least given the side some hope. Personally as well, the man must've felt his confidence uplifted once again.
The magnificent ton earned him rich praise from the cricket community, as they all realised what it means to him and Pakistan.
Here are the best of those tweets:
