148/10 (53.0)
CR : 2.79
RR : 0.00
Match Drawn
Player of the Match
Babar Azam
1/736(79) & 196(425)
Arya: What an extraordinary Test match and both teams should be proud of how they played in the Test match. Astonishing stuff from Pakistan to bat out almost two whole days to save this Test match. Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan showed why they are regarded as the top two batters in the country. Both scored fantastic centuries and at one point even ignited the hopes of an unrealistic run-chase.
Arya: Pakistan was on 192/2 when the day began and still needed 314 runs for a dramatic victory. The hopes were reignited courtesy some exceptional batting by overnight batters Babar Azam and Abdullah Shafique. Both continued piling on the agony on the Australian bowlers and hardly gave a chance during their knocks. Babar Azam in particular was in exceptional touch and played some delightful shots to continue the good work from Day 4.
Shafique after a long vigil was eventually dismissed on 96 as he chased a wide delivery from Pat Cummins in an attempt to reach the landmark early. Fawad Alam batted 27 deliveries for 9 before Pat Cummins sent him back and Australia was well and truly back into the game with a bang. Nathan Lyon and Mitchell Swepson bowled very well but without any rewards. They kept plugging away but the Pakistan batters were resistant enough to keep the Aussie bowlers at bay.
Mohammad Rizwan joined Babar Azam in the middle and the brotherhood was again reunited in Karachi. Both took us back to UAE where they tormented the oppositions during the 2021 T20 World Cup. A different format altogether but they were at their ominous best and batted with authority to frustrate the Australian bowlers. Rizwan mentioned in the post-match presentation ceremony that at one point he had a discussion with Babar and they were going for the chase. However, the ball was old and it was very difficult to score boundaries consistently.
Both kept playing some attacking shots and took the attack to the Australian bowlers. Babar Azam was nearing a double century when he was eventually dismissed by Nathan Lyon on 196. The crowd was silent but later rose to what was one of the greatest second innings knocks in Test cricket ever. Lyon got Faheem Ashraf the very next deliver and it looked like Australia will run through the tail.
Mohammad Rizwan was the other end and despite the fall of wickets he was not changing his positive intent. Sajid Khan came into the attack and struck a couple of boundaries to get going but his wicket again put Pakistan on the backfoot. Mohammad Rizwan eventually reached a well-deserved century on the penultimate over the day's play and managed to save the match for Pakistan along with Nauman Ali.
Shafique after a long vigil was eventually dismissed on 96 as he chased a wide delivery from Pat Cummins in an attempt to reach the landmark early. Fawad Alam batted 27 deliveries for 9 before Pat Cummins sent him back and Australia was well and truly back into the game with a bang. Nathan Lyon and Mitchell Swepson bowled very well but without any rewards. They kept plugging away but the Pakistan batters were resistant enough to keep the Aussie bowlers at bay.
Mohammad Rizwan joined Babar Azam in the middle and the brotherhood was again reunited in Karachi. Both took us back to UAE where they tormented the oppositions during the 2021 T20 World Cup. A different format altogether but they were at their ominous best and batted with authority to frustrate the Australian bowlers. Rizwan mentioned in the post-match presentation ceremony that at one point he had a discussion with Babar and they were going for the chase. However, the ball was old and it was very difficult to score boundaries consistently.
Both kept playing some attacking shots and took the attack to the Australian bowlers. Babar Azam was nearing a double century when he was eventually dismissed by Nathan Lyon on 196. The crowd was silent but later rose to what was one of the greatest second innings knocks in Test cricket ever. Lyon got Faheem Ashraf the very next deliver and it looked like Australia will run through the tail.
Mohammad Rizwan was the other end and despite the fall of wickets he was not changing his positive intent. Sajid Khan came into the attack and struck a couple of boundaries to get going but his wicket again put Pakistan on the backfoot. Mohammad Rizwan eventually reached a well-deserved century on the penultimate over the day's play and managed to save the match for Pakistan along with Nauman Ali.
Time for the post-match presentation ceremony.
Osaka Battery Super charged player of the match is Nathan Lyon.
Mohammad Rizwan is the all-rounder of the match. Gets a cheque of Rs 100000.
Usman Khawaja is the Reliable Batter of the match. Will receive the same cheque.
Babar Azam is the TikTok Player of the Match.
Pat Cummins, Australian skipper- Yeah I think so. It was a pretty good wicket even on Day 4 and 5. They batted brilliantly. We created a few half chances but couldn't quite latch onto that. I thought Swepson was fantastic on debut. His figures are real injustice to the way he bowled. Nathan bowled beautifully like he does on the final day. Lots of great positives and lots to play for next week. I think the way we batted were fantastic. The way we hunted those wickets on Day 3 was absolutely brilliant. We were ahead of the game the whole time. Really proud of the boys.
Babar Azam, Pakistan skipper- Plan was simple. We had to bat throughout and we wanted to bat sessions by sessions. The way the partnership was building with Abdullah was great. The whole team played very well. See the belief was there and we keep sticking to that. We were very focused and wanted to continue batting. The main thing was partnership and the way Rizwan played in the end nd saved the game was outstanding. We thought we would bat normally and we will think of the chase at the end. But our plan was to play positive cricket. I will thank almighty for the innings when the team needed me to turn up.
That brings us to the end of our coverage for this Test match. Till the next time, it's goodbye from me (Arya Sekhar Chakraborty) on the behalf of my fellow commentators Ayan Chatterjee and Suhail along with our scorer Dushyant Kumar.