Babar Azam – The leader who stood up when the team needed him

Babar Azam played arguably one of the greatest innings by a Pakistan batter in the fourth innings of a Test match. The contest, the setting and the situation that his team found itself in makes this knock an all-time classic.

Pakistan were set an improbable target of 506 for a win, and when Azam walked in, they were reeling at 21/2. Pakistan had lost both batters who had scored centuries for them in the first Test match, and a defeat loomed largely.

The hosts had to bat out more than 170 overs to save the Test. And, it was in this context that Azam came in and stood up with the bat for his side. The right-handed batter scored a resplendent 196, and more importantly, played out a colossal 425 deliveries to dent Australia’s chances of a win.

The batting superstar put on a match-saving partnership of 228 runs with Abdullah Shafique for the third wicket to push Australia on the backfoot. After Shafique and Fawad Alam departed in quick succession, Australia would have sensed an opening. But Azam shut that out too, as he was involved in another match-defining partnership of 115 runs with Mohammad Rizwan as Pakistan pulled off a famous draw.

Former England cricketer Michael Vaughan took to Twitter and lavished praises on Azam. Vaughan termed Azam as the best all-round batter in the world at the moment and also added that the Pakistan batting superstar is brilliant across all formats of the game.

“Without question I think Babar Azam is the best all-round Batter in the World right now .. Brilliant across all the formats,” tweeted Vaughan in praise of Azam’s magical knock.

Babar Azam himself admitted that this knock means so much to him as the team needed him to step up. Azam even added that at one stage, Pakistan fancied chances of a historic win as well.

“This innings holds a lot of meaning for me, because the team needed it. We were realistic about the chase. We wanted to bat normally till tea, and then if we found ourselves in a situation where we could go for the chase, we were good. If I’d stayed for longer we might have tried to chase it,” said Azam after his historic knock.

Azam is the king who rose up to the occasion when Pakistan needed him the most. And, with his marathon effort, he has ensured that this Test series between Pakistan and Australia is still alive. More importantly, Azam has also ensured that his innings will stay in the memories of fans for a long time to come.