Captain Babar Azam’s marathon knock of 196 and wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan’s counter-attacking century helped Pakistan hold their own in an impressive draw on Day 5 of the Karachi Test against Australia this March 16.
Pakistan played out over 171 overs in the fourth-innings, batting nearly two days to fight their way to a draw, with their skipper and modern-day batting giant Babar leading from the front. He recorded the highest-ever score made in the fourth innings of a Test match by a captain to push Pakistan into safe waters.
Rizwan was equally fantastic for his team as the wicketkeeper-batter continued his rapid rise on the cricket field, scoring an unbeaten 104 off 177 deliveries to help the hosts keep the visitors at bay in the closing stages of the Test match.
Babar and Rizwan allowed Pakistan to post 443/7 in response to the insurmountable 507-run target set by Australia with a crucial support act from opening batter Abdullah Shafique (96), who missed out on his Test century but stitched an invaluable stand with Babar through Day 4 and the first session of Day 5.
But Pakistan wouldn’t have had to bat so long for safety if they hadn’t collapsed in the first half of the Test, getting out for a measly 148 against Australia’s daunting 556/9 on what was another relatively flat batting surface for the series. Babar top-scored with a 36 in that innings but the rest of the batting crumbled to some high-class bowling from Mitchell Starc (3/29) and debutant wristspinner Mitchell Swepson (2/32).
At that point, the result seemed a straightforward conclusion, especially as Australia declared their innings early with a score of only 97/2, taking less than 23 overs out of the game. However, they were still denied victory by some resolute batting from Shafique, Babar and Rizwan under pressure.
The unrelenting nature of the surface didn’t help the Australian bowlers either, as barring odd spells, they never really got lateral turn or uneven bounce even late into Day 5 from a benign Karachi deck.
Brief scores
Australia 556/9 dec (Khawaja 160, Carey 93; Ashraf 2/55) & 97/2 dec (Khawaja 44; Afridi 1/21) drew with Pakistan 148/10 (Azam 36; Starc 3/29, Swepson 2/32) & 443/7 (Azam 196, Rizwan 104*; Lyon 4/112)
