Pakistan captain Babar Azam secured a Test century in the Men-in-match Green’s over Australia at the National Stadium Karachi after a two-year layoff.
In the 78th over, the Pakistani captain completed his century by sweeping Mitchell Swepson at fine leg.
This would be Babar’s sixth Test century. The previous time the Pakistani captain had scored a century was against Bangladesh during their tour of Pakistan in February 2020.
The audience and his team applauded Babar for his “incredible” century as soon as he hit the ball.
Babar is at the crease alongside opener Abdullah Shafique for Pakistan, who are chasing a 506-run score.
After Pakistan was relegated to 21 for 2, Babar and Shafique teamed for a thrilling 171-run combination to frustrate Australia’s attack and give the hosts a ray of hope after they had been clueless for the most of the match.
Babar and Shafique were fairly unbothered, blunting the bowling over the stretch of almost two hours, in a throwback to Rawalpindi, when Australia only took four wickets in 239 overs. The visitors were left to lament two early chances against Shafique, the first-Test centurion, who started cautiously before finding his stride after being partnered at the crease by a confident Babar.
Pakistan are 192-2 at the conclusion of day 4 and need 314 runs to win with 8 wickets.
Australia is touring Pakistan for the first time since 1998, after previously refusing to do so due to security concerns.
