KARACHI: Pakistan’s captain Babar Azam and the opening batter Abdullah Shafique carried their bat till the stumps of day four of the ongoing second Test to keep Pakistan in the hunt as they need 314 runs to win.
Pakistan enjoyed a delightful last session of the fourth day as the home side added 88 runs without losing any wicket as they finished at 192/2 at the stumps on day four.
Pakistan’s skipper Babar notched up his sixth Test century in the closing minutes and remained unbeaten. He has faced 198 deliveries and smashed a dozen boundaries.
His partner Abdullah, on the other hand, also batted exceptionally well as he remained unbeaten on 71 with the help of four boundaries and a six.
The pair have put on a 171-runs partnership for the third wicket and will now resume the proceedings for Pakistan at 192/2 on the final day.
After a series of frustrating sessions, Pakistan got hold of the second session of day four as they added 86 runs for the loss of just one wicket.
In the first session, resuming at an overnight score of 81/1, Australia’s top-order batters Marnus Labuschagne and the left-handed opener Usman Khawaja managed to add just 16 runs into their overnight partnership.
Pakistan’s left-arm pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi managed to break their partnership in the 24th over as he castled Labuschagne for 44.
With his dismissal, Australian captain Pat Cummins decided to declare the innings at 97/2, Khawaja remained unbeaten with 44.
Set to chase a mammoth 506, Pakistan were off to a poor start as they lost their in-form opening batter Imam-ul-Haq for a combined score of two. Imam made his way back after managing to score just one as Nathan Lyon trapped him in his legs.
Pakistan’s young opening batter Abdullah Shafique and Azhar Ali then anchored the innings and made sure that the home side do not lose any further wickets. The pair batted for 15 overs and add 18 runs to the team’s total.
