Twitter Reactions: Azhar Ali destroys critics with a classy ton in Southampton

The last and deciding match of the three-match Test series between England and Pakistan is being played at The Rose Bowl, Southampton. Englishmen are currently leading with 1-0 as they won the first match against the visitors by three wickets while the second match was drawn due to the interruption of rain. Thus, Pakistan needs nothing less than a victory to at least draw their first series after lockdown.

At the beginning of the third Test, captain Joe Root won the toss and elected to bat first. The hosts thrashed the bowling line-up of Men in Green as they declared their first innings at a massive score of 583 at the loss of 8 wickets owing to the spellbound knock of 267 by Zak Crawley and 152 by wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler.

In response, Pakistan couldn’t do much as the pacer James Anderson left the opposite team in tatters with his brilliant bowling. He clinched the wickets of all the four main Pakistan batsmen namely Shan Masood, Abid Ali, Babar Azam, and Asad Shafiq in just 13 overs. However, captain Azhar Ali gave the Men in Green a lifeline as he gave an insight into his splendid batting skills at such crucial times.

A brilliant knock by Azhar Ali

Azhar fought hard and showed courage as he notched up his 17th Test century and third against England on Day 3 of the third Test at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton. After seeing his team crumbling, the skipper upped his game level and displayed sheer brilliance as he smashed a ton in 205 balls.

This will be an extremely special inning for the skipper this overseas century came after 21 innings of playing outside UAE or Pakistan. Also, this is his second century as the captain. With this, he also became the fifth Pakistan batsman to reach the milestone of 6000 runs and joined an elite Pakistan group featuring Younis Khan, the current batting coach, Javed Miandad, Inzamam-ul-Haq and Mohammad Yousuf.

The 35-year-old had only managed to score 38 runs in three previous innings this series for which he was thrashed brutally on the social media sites and there was also a demand of sacking him from Test captaincy. However, this splendid innings not only earned him a standing ovation from the Pakistan team, but the cricketer is also trended on Twitter for all good things this time. Azhar is being appreciated from all over the world for his 17th century.

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