Babar Azam had scored his sixth century in Test cricket run, and Pakistan’s captain was determined to make it his best score. Babar was the leader in Pakistan’s fight to save Karachi from Australia and produced a fine knock with 196 to stop the visitors from winning what seemed like a win. Babar was the obstacle to Australia winning the Karachi Test. Although Abdullah Shafique, Mohammad Rizwan, and Mohammad Rizwan played their part, Pakistan’s likely victory in the final Test is due to their resistance.
Pakistan had eight wickets left and needed to chase a record of 506 runs on the fifth and final day. Babar stood strong like a wall and scored his first Test hundred for over two years, then doubled it in the final session. It seemed that another batting collapse was imminent, with Australia picking up two more wickets and reducing Pakistan’s score to 277/4. Babar was not to be deceived. Babar batted brilliantly to defeat Australia, and he produced a fighting knock during the fourth innings of a Test game.
Babar missed out on the maiden Test double but he reached the top of an obscure list. His score of 196 is the highest ever by a Test captain in the fourth innings. Babar was able to leave behind Ricky Ponting and Virat Kohli, who scored 173 runs, 156, and 141 respectively in the fourth innings. Babar also lost Brian Lara, the legendary batsman who scored an unbeaten score of 153 in the fourth innings.
Day 5 was a disappointing day for Pakistan. Especially after they lost eight wickets for 88, and were eventually bowled out for just 148. Babar won the second innings, first with Shafique. He continued his incredible form and scored 96. Shafique was unable to score a hundred, with Australia captain Pat Cummins taking his wicket to give the team an advantage.
Fawad Alam was then knocked out by Cummins, which allowed Australia to enter the door. However, Babar and Mohammad Rizwan created a century-long partnership. Babar’s marathon knock came to an abrupt halt when he lost Nathan Lyon to Marnus Laborchagne at the first slip. This was much to the dismay and surprise of the crowd who had come to watch their captain cross the 200-run mark.
