DUBAI: The International Cricket Council (ICC) has picked the five best batting performances in the ICC World Test Championship 2023 (WTC23) cycle so far, Pakistan’s all-format captain Babar Azam, is featured in the list.
Pakistan’s top-ranked batter Babar, who played a crucial and match-saving knock against Australia in the Karachi Test and forced the match to end as a draw, has got his name in the five best performances of the ICC WTC23 so far.
Coming out to bat at 21/2 just after the Lunch on day four, the right-handed batter showed his class and scored 196 off 425 balls, that is also the seventh-highest individual scored in the fourth innings of a Test match.
Set a target of 506 for a win, Pakistan endured the second-longest fourth innings stay in history to salvage a draw, thanks to the gritty knock of Babar.
ICC picked another Pakistani batter in the list as Azhar Ali’s 185 against Australia at Rawalpindi has been rated among the top five performances.
Prior to Babar’s heroics, Azhar Ali in Rawalpindi stretched Australia’s bowling attack to its limits, eliminating the possibility of a rare away triumph first up.
In Pakistan’s first innings, Azhar Ali batted for 535 minutes, primarily with Imam-ul-Haq, who put 157 next to his name on the scoreboard. Together, they scored 208 runs.
From Tom Latham's imperious 252, to Babar Azam's match-saving knock in Karachi, skippers have led the way with bat in hand so far in #WTC23 action 👏https://t.co/Vrjkw8hko0
— ICC (@ICC) April 16, 2022
New Zealand’s stand-in captain Tom Latham’s magnificent 252-runs knock against Bangladesh in Christchurch, was also added to one of the best five batting performances.
The 373-ball stay continued into the second session of day two, breaking Bangladesh’s fielding back. In the end, New Zealand won by an innings and 117 runs.
Despite additional duties, Joe Root had a good 2021 with the bat, highlighted by a magnificent 180* against India at Lord’s.
Root, who came in at 23/2 after the early wickets of Dom Sibley and Haseeb Hameed, navigated a difficult end to day two and batted the entire third day while his teammates perished at the other end.
The home team, on the other hand, fell short after a second-innings batting collapse, but Root’s valiant effort remained highlighted.
The number 1 all-rounder in the ICC Test Rankings, India’s Ravindra Jadeja also featured in the list following his astonishing and an unbeaten 175 off 228 vs Sri Lanka at Mohali. The all-rounder also picked a five-for; becoming just the sixth man to score 150+ and take a five-wicket haul in the same Test.
