Day 4: Babar’s ton keeps Pakistan alive

Babar Azam and Abdullah Shafique played superbly after losing two early wickets.

Their fighting partnership has kept Pakistan alive in the second Test.

Australia declared their innings on 97 runs after losing Labuschagne early on who was bowled out by Shaheen Afridi for 44 runs.

The Australian side has set a huge target of 506 runs in the 4th innings and it will be a mountain to climb for the Pakistan cricket team.

Australia   1st innings   556-9 Dec

Khawaja 160            Faheem 2-55                                                                                                                                       Carey 93                   Sajid 2-167

Pakistan   1st innings   148 all-out

Babar 36              Starc 3-29                                                                                                                                         Nauman 20*       Swepson 2-32

Australia    2nd innings   97-2   

Labuschagne 44          Shaheen 1-21                                                                                                               Khawaja 44                  Hasan 1-23

Pakistan 2nd innings   192-2

Babar 102*               Green 1-15                                                                                                                                    Abdullah 71*            Lyon 1-50

The Pakistani skipper Babar Azam scored a fighting hundred and was brilliantly supported by the opener Abdullah Shafique to defy Australia’s push for a historic win, as Pakistan’s stubborn fight left the second match interestingly poised ahead of the final day.

Pakistan needs 3 more sessions to survive and 315 runs to win while Australia needs 8 more wickets to win the second Test match.

Pakistan requires to survive for 90 more overs to make one of the most historic comebacks in Test match history.

Pakistan was 2 down for 192 at stumps on the fourth day with Babar playing on 102* and Shafique on 71*.

The hosts still require another 314 runs for an impossible record-breaking win.

Australia declared their innings on 97 runs after losing Labuschagne on 44 runs and set a target of 506 runs for the hosts.

The star for Australia in the first innings, Usman Khawaja remained unbeaten on 44 runs.

Pakistan started their innings and the openers didn’t look comfortable with the new ball.

Cummins gives Lyon the new ball which proved to be a masterstroke from him as he dismissed Imam for only 1 run.

The veteran Azhar All was playing confidently but he missed judged a short ball which was ducked early.

The DRS showed that Azhar was not out but he didn’t take the review to save himself from getting LBW but unfortunately, he failed today.

Babar and Shafique’s fighting partnership

Babar Azam joined the crease with Abdullah Shafique when Pakistan was struggling on 21-2 but both of them played high-class knocks to show some fight against them.

Babar’s 2 years long wait to complete his 6th Test century has finally ended and he will be hoping to continue his innings and look for a double hundred.

This was a captain’s knock from him and he has to lead brilliantly in this huge chase.

Abdullah Shafique is proving to be an outstanding young talent for Pakistan at the opening position.

This was the 3rd Test fifty for Abdullah and he also has a hundred under his belt.

The right-handed batsman has superbly supported his skipper on day 4.

Steven Smith dropped Abdullah Shafique’s catch when he was batting on only 20 runs and now he is unbeaten on 71 runs at the end of day 4.