Twitter Reactions: Babar Azam's heroic 196 helps Pakistan save Karachi Test vs Australia

Wow!! Test cricket was at its best in Karachi over the last five days. The second Test between Australia and Pakistan ended in a draw, like it did in the first Test but not before the home side played some attritional cricket led by their skipper Babar Azam who batted for more than nine hours to score 196 off a mammoth 425 deliveries. Pakistan batted out a massive 172 overs in their second essay while Australia fell only three wickets short to settle for a draw.

The fifth and final day was nicely set up with Pakistan needing 314 runs with eight wickets in hand. Abdullah Shafique and Babar Azam had batted nicely to bail the team out of trouble when they were struggling at 21/2. The hosts had every chance to go for a win. The overnight unbeaten duo continued to bat the same way on the final morning of the Test.

With the pitch not offering much, Australia desperately tried everything to break the partnership but to no avail. Just when things were going flat for the visitors, Pat Cummins struck gold dismissing Shafique on 96. The Aussie skipper was once again in the action sending back Fawad Alam for only 9 runs. At 277/4, with a lot of play in the day still left, Australia had once again started to hope to win the game.

Babar and Rizwan stand tall

However, Mohammad Rizwan joined hands with his skipper and they started to blunt the relentless Aussie attack. The duo batted for more than 40 overs to keep the Test match alive. Babar was excellent with his footwork during his stay in the middle and paced his innings superbly. He looked assured as well playing some exquisite strokes.

Just when things had started to look flat and Babar Azam was on his merry way to score a brilliant double ton, Nathan Lyon struck to dismiss him on 196. That opened the floodgates for the visitors as the off-spinner sent back Faheem Ashraf for a golden duck. Sajid Khan also got out with Steve Smith taking his second catch in the slips in the space of 15 minutes and Australia suddenly had a chance to notch up a famous win.

They had eight overs in hand to pick up three more wickets but Rizwan stood strong along with Nauman Ali to keep Australia at bay. The Pakistan wicketkeeper also brought up a brilliant ton amidst a lot of nervous moments. He was also dropped by Usman Khawaja with three overs left in the day and in the end, it was Pakistan who survived for a mammoth 172 overs to save the Test match.

Here’s how Twitter reacted: