Pakistan pulled off a dramatic draw in the second Test against Australia at National Stadium, Karachi on Wednesday (March 16).
Skipper Babar Azam and his deputy Mohammad Rizwan batted out of their skins to save the Test match on the fifth day track.
The final day was nicely set up with Pakistan needing 314 runs with eight wickets in hand while chasing a mammoth target of 506. Babar and opener Abdullah Shafique were the unbeaten batters heading into Day 5 and the pair continued to bat the same way on the final morning of the Test.
Pat Cummins broke their 228-run stand by removing Cummins Shafique 96. The Australian captain also removed Fawad Alam (9) cheaply and all of a sudden the hosts found themselves struggling at 277/4.
Amid the pressure situation, Babar and Rizwan came to Pakistan’s rescue. The duo shared 115 runs for the fifth wicket to put Pakistan out of the danger zone.
While Babar got out for 196 with more than 10 overs still remaining on the final day, Rizwan held the one end firmly. Despite the wickets of Faheem Ashraf and Sajid Khan in quick succession, the wicketkeeper batter stood strong along with Nauman Ali to keep the Australian bowlers at bay.
Rizwan eventually finished with 104 not out as Pakistan scored 443/7 in the second innings after batting for 171.4 overs to save the Test match.
For their herculean effort with the bat, Babar, Rizwan and Shafique garnered rich praise from the cricket fraternity on Twitter.
Here are the reactions:
