Pakistan once again were halted 46 runs short of Bangladesh’s first innings total, ending their batting for 232 runs.
Pakistan “failed to build a partnership”
Losing their first three wickets in the first session on day 2, Pakistan were already in trouble by the time Babar arrived. His composed innings did fill the visitors with hope and took them closer to the first innings total, but as batters around him kept failing, the resistance died down eventually.
Babar says partenrships are what help teams recover from a collapse in cricket, more so in Test format. But Pakistan were unable to follow that plan. None of the batters, bar Babar and surprisingly Sjaid Khan, crossed even 30 runs during the innings, leaving no space for wondering why Bangladehs dominated.
“The pitch was very good and the ball was coming onto the bat nicely, but we failed to build a partnership. Salman Ali Agha and I tried to build one; the start was good but unfortunately we could not carry it forward,” Babar said after the close of play on day 2.
Nahid got a breakthrough
Babar was joined by Salman Ali Agha as the two batters stitch a 63-runs partnership but his Peshawar Zalmi teammate Nahid Rana’s change of pace as he delivered a slower one hoodwinked Babar into making mistake. Babar departed and soon Salman followed the stride.
“The turning point of the innings was my wicket and Salman Ali Agha’s wicket. After those two dismissals, the momentum of the game completely shifted,” he stated.
The right-handed batter returned to the playing XI after missing out on the first Test with a left knee injury. This was his first game after the tremendous PSL season he had, and naturally the fans and pundits had expectations of seeing a changed Babar on the field. He went back scoring 68 runs off 84 balls, the highest by any Pakistan batter.
“I tried to play my natural game, but sometimes you score runs and sometimes you don’t. In Test cricket, you need two to three solid partnerships to build a strong total,” Babar stated.
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