Harare Test between Pakistan and Zimbabwe: Fawad Alam's century, Babar Azam's zero
When the second day of the Harare Test started, the think tank sitting in the dressing room of Pakistan was urging its batsmen to make such a big score in this innings that it would not be their turn to bat in the second innings.
But with resounding innings and six wickets falling, the Pakistani team reached the lead of 198 with 374 runs at the end of the game, also thanks to Fawad Alam's magnificent century with the help of 16 fours. He was not out for 108 runs.
Batting with a turtle move
Nowadays, it is not uncommon to score more than 300 runs in a one-day Test match, but Pakistani batsmen are locked in a defensive shell in such a way that even a mediocre and average bowling attack can be mounted on the head.
The Pakistani batsmen managed to score only 271 runs in the entire day's play.
Abid Ali and Imran Butt's slow batting was understandable as both were at a critical juncture in their Test careers. One has just started Test cricket but four innings against South Africa had gone without a significant score so Imran Butt was well aware of how many extraordinary catches he could take in the slip to keep him in the team. Big score will be required.
Abid Ali, on the other hand, walked away from the big score after the unique honor of scoring the first Test and the first ODI centuries and this Harare Test had become a matter of now or never for him.
If there were spectators at the Harare Sports Club, there would be nothing more boring for them than the first session. In the game of 32 overs, only 59 runs could be added. Meanwhile, Abid Ali caught Brendon Taylor in the slip and lost his wicket for 60 runs.
The 115-run first-wicket partnership between Abid Ali and Imran Butt was the highest after the first-wicket partnership of 278 against Sri Lanka in December 2019. Abid Ali Shaan Masood was also involved in this partnership. Azhar Ali played 70 balls to score 36 runs. Meanwhile, he added 65 runs for the second wicket with Imran Butt but the pace of scoring was slow.
Seeing Babar Azam's driving habit, Kaya was brought near the non-striker at short mid on and Babar Azam played the ball of Tri Panu towards the fielder. Imran Butt's long innings was reduced to three figures by just nine runs.
Fawad Alam and Mohammad Rizwan accelerated the score, especially Fawad Alam played several aggressive strokes on both sides of the wicket. He once again made no mistake in turning his half-century into a century. This is the fourth time they have done so.
Fawad Alam added 107 runs for the fifth wicket with Mohammad Rizwan. Rizwan was left with five runs short of a half-century, but the incoming Faheem Ashraf also proved to be a guest of two balls.
In the last overs of the game, Hassan Ali's 21 runs with two sixes and a four caused the scoreboard numbers to change rapidly.
What is so special about Babar's zero?
It is very simple that if a batsman plays a big inning and the other batsman is out at zero, then obviously wow wow belongs to the batsman who makes a big score, who will ask the one who is out at zero? But sometimes the opposite happens.
The biggest example of this is the 1948 Oval Test in which Australian opener Arthur Morris scored a century but the world still remembers Sir Don Bradman who was dismissed for zero in his last innings.
The same thing happened on the second day of the Harare Test when Pakistani opener Imran Butt scored 91 runs. Abid Ali had 60 runs in front of his name and then in the last session Fawad Alam managed to score a century by presenting a brilliant game, but interestingly, most of the mention has been made of the zero that the captain of the Pakistani team Babar Azam. Written in the account.
Babar Azam is not out for zero for the first time in his Test career, so why is this zero so important? Yes, this is the seventh wicket of Babar Azam in his Test career but it is different from the previous six wickets because he lost his wicket on the first ball for the first time, which means Golden Dick.
While Babar Azam was struggling in the early days of his Test career, 2017 was a year in which he was dismissed not once but five times for zero, including both innings of the Test match against the West Indies. That included getting out at zero.
Babar Azam was last bowled by Nathan Lane in the Abu Dhabi Test against Australia in 2018, after which it was not possible for any bowler to send him to the pavilion at zero, during which time he continued to score runs consistently. Proved himself a world-class batsman.