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SYLHET: Pakistan middle-order batter Babar Azam has urged the batters to take responsibility after another failure against Bangladesh in the second Test at Sylhet International Cricket Stadium on Sunday.
Pakistan were in deep trouble at 79-4 on day two. Salman Ali Agha and Babar Azam then resisted with a 63-run partnership that steadied the innings.
However, Babar’s soft dismissal off Nahid Rana’s bowling sparked a collapse that they could never recover from. The visitors then lost five wickets, adding only 65 runs. As a result, they slumped from 142-5 to 207-9 and 232 all out.
Speaking to the media after the day’s play, Babar emphasized the lack of big partnerships as a vital factor behind the team’s shambolic batting display.
“The pitch is very good, and the ball is coming very nicely. We have not built a partnership. When Agha [Salman Ali Agha] and I were playing in the middle, we were just trying to build a partnership, but unfortunately, we have not built a long partnership,” he lamented.
He praised Bangladesh fast bowler Nahid Rana, calling him the fastest bowler currently in red-ball cricket.
“He [Nahid Rana] is a nice bowler, and I think he is one of the fastest bowlers right now in Red Ball cricket. Every second team has a 140-150 bowler, so you try to handle those things. I try to do my level best to play my natural game,” Babar explained.
The 31-year-old described his own dismissal and Agha’s wicket as a turning point that shifted the game’s momentum. He urged Pakistan batters to be more responsible after repeated batting collapses.
“I think the turning point is my and Salman Ali Agha’s wicket, because after that we have not built the partnership, so I think these two dismissals change the momentum.”
“The main thing is that as a batting unit we have to take some responsibility and we have to play with some pain, because our issue is that whenever a wicket falls, it falls back to back, so you are not able to handle that. We have to figure out this thing and the same thing has happened again,” Babar concluded.
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