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Showcasing his batting prowess, Babar Azam kept Pakistan’s hope alive in the second Test against Australia in Karachi. The captain scored a century, which was his sixth in the longer format, as Pakistan ended Day 4 at 192/2 thus setting up an exciting final day with the hosts requiring another 314 runs to win, while Australia need eight wickets.
The right-handed batter, who returned unbeaten on 102, will resume Pakistan’s charge on the final day with opener Abdullah Shafique on the other end. Both the batters have so far added 171 runs for the third wicket, with Shafique batting on 71.
“This hundred means a lot to me, it came just when the team needed it,” the captain said about his knock after the day’s play.
“We lost a couple of early wickets so the plan was to build a partnership with Abdullah and then extend it. The match is not over yet. We’ll try to continue this partnership tomorrow and the subsequent batsmen would have to show patience too,” he further added.
Impressed with Babar’s batting, Team India spinner R Ashwin lauded the Pakistan captain for his valiant effort, as he anticipates an exciting finish to the contest. The spinner took to Twitter to extend his congratulatory message to Babar and wrote: “Babar Azam (applauds emoticon), going to be an exciting finish tomorrow”.
Earlier, Australia batted for 25 minutes on Tuesday before declaring their second innings on 97-2, challenging Pakistan to pull off the greatest fourth innings chase in Test cricket history.
Marnus Labuschagne fell for 44, while his Islamabad-born team mate Usman Khawaja followed his first innings 160 with an unbeaten 44.
-with inputs from Reuters
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