Former Pakistan national cricket team captain Babar Azam looked amused during the third Test of the three-match series against the Australia national cricket team at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
Babar Azam served as captain of the Pakistan National Cricket Team for a significant period of time before stepping down from his role after the Asia Cup 2023 and ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 debacle.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), in an official press release, revealed that Babar has been asked to step away from the white-ball captaincy and continue as a leader in red-ball cricket. However, the star batsman decided to give up the captaincy altogether.
Babar Azam was struggling to get going with the bat during the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 in India despite the pitches offering good support to the batsmen. After Babar relinquished the captaincy, it was expected that he would return to his best form as a batsman, but it did not happen and his struggles continued in the away Test series against the Australians.
Meanwhile, during the Sydney Test, Babar Azam rose to fame for two different reasons. First, because of his hilarious exchange with Mitchell Marsh and then because of his heated exchange with Mitchell Starc.
The incident with Mitchell Marsh occurred when spinner Agha Salman was bowling and one of his deliveries hit the Australian all-rounder on his helmet in the 87th over. Although the hit was unimportant, Babar hilariously placed his fingers in front of Marsh to mimic a concussion test. The first Australian all-rounder reacted to Babar’s gesture with a smile and the players laughed out loud.
Watch: Babar Azam performs a fun concussion test
Since Captaincy has stolen our old fun, Babar Azam is back with Mitch Marsh. Who got the fun?#PAKvsAUS #PAKvAUS #BabarAzam #BabarAzam #AamirJamal pic.twitter.com/NN6zZC0fOb
– Shahid Atk (@ShahidAtk56) January 5, 2024
Coming back to Babar Azam’s performance in the series. In 6 innings against Australia, he scored only 126 runs, well below his standards. He has scored the most runs he has at an average of 21.00 and a strike rate of 46.84.
His poor form with the bat has been one of the main reasons why the Pakistan national cricket team lost 0-2 in the series against the Pat Cummins-led Australia national cricket team. The Shan Masood-led team faced consecutive defeats in the first two Tests and is on the verge of losing the third Test as well.
In the third Test, Pakistan scored 313 in their first innings and then bundled out their opponents for 299. However, they faced a horrible batting collapse in their second innings and were reduced to 68/7 at stumps on Day 3.
Star wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Rizwan and all-rounder Aamer Jamal were unbeaten in the middle at the end of the day and the duo needs to give their best if Pakistan is to avoid a series whitewash.
Notably, Rizwan and Jamal stepped up in the first innings when Pakistan faced a collapse and helped their team score a total of over 300. Mohammad Rizwan scored 88 runs off 103 balls, with 10 fours and 2 sixes, while that Aamer Jamal scored 82 runs. 97 balls, with 9 fours and 4 sixes. Aamer Jamal was also sensational with the ball as he took 6 wickets in Australia’s first innings.
