Captain Babar Azam scored a scintillating century on Tuesday backed by opener Abdullah Shafiq, as Pakistan dashed Australia’s hopes of a swift victory in the second Test in Karachi. Setting a challenging 506-run target, Azam scored his sixth Test century – and second against Australia – to lead Pakistan 192-2 and draw an impossible victory, or even a fight. To raise hopes. Nearly Azam was unbeaten on 102 and Shafiq on 71 as the pair put on 171 runs for the third wicket, leaving the home side needing 314 runs to win from the final day’s 90 overs, or three sessions to bat for a draw. .
Shafiq and Azam led the fight before Pakistan lost Imam-ul-Haq (one) and Azhar Ali (six), leaving Australia with a wicket last season – after 80 overs to pick up the second new ball. Despite.
Azam took spinner Mitchell Swepson for two wickets to three-figures towards short fine-leg, his first in 21 innings since 143 against Bangladesh in Rawalpindi in February 2020.
Azam’s century came in 247 minutes with 12 fours.
Shafiq was as strong as his captain, hitting four fours and a six so far as he and Azam batted brilliantly for 265 minutes.
West Indies chased 418-7 against Australia in Antigua in 2003, while Pakistan’s highest successful chase was 377 against Sri Lanka at Pallekele in 2015.
Australia, starting their second innings at 81-1, batted for just 26 minutes at the start of the game and added 16 runs before declaring at 97-2.
The visitors declared 556-9 in their first innings and then bowled out Pakistan for 148.
The home team expected Azhar to anchor the second innings but the senior batsman was dismissed lbw by Cameron Green while trying to avoid a short-pitched delivery.
Azhar chose not to review as he was trampled, but was left to regret it as television replays showed he shone the ball.
At 21-2, Australia seemed to have the upper edge and were looking to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series, but their efforts were thwarted by a slow pitch and the brilliance of the Pakistan batting pair.
Australia could have dismissed Shafiq for 20 but the experienced Steve Smith took a straight catch at the slips of fast bowler Pat Cummins.
Despite a crack in the National Cricket Stadium pitch, Australian spinners Nathan Lyon and Swepson failed to take vicious turns.
Earlier, Haq and Shafiq were all on the alert as it took them till the fifth over to score the first run before Lyon was hit.
In-form Haque, who scored a century in each innings of the drawn first Test at Rawalpindi, went lbw for one wicket after failing to connect with a sliding ball.
Earlier, Marnus Labuschagne was bowled for 44 by a sharp Shaheen Shah Afridi delivery, prompting skipper Cummins to end the innings with first-innings century-scorer Usman Khawaja, who was born in Pakistan. He scored an unbeaten 44.
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Australia is on its first tour of Pakistan since 1998, which had previously refused to tour the country due to security reasons.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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