SYLHET: After another disappointing performance against Bangladesh in the second Test at Sylhet International Cricket Stadium on Sunday, Pakistan middle-order batter Babar Azam has urged his teammates to step up.
Pakistan was in deep trouble at 79 for four on the second day. Then Salman Ali Agha and Babar Azam steadied the innings with a partnership of 63 runs.
But a gentle dismissal of Babar, bowled by Nahid Rana, caused a collapse they could never recover from. The visitors then crumbled to 65 for five wickets. They lost 142-5 to 207-9 and 232 all out.
Talking to media after the day’s play, Babar stressed the lack of big partnerships as a key factor behind the team’s shambolic batting performance.
“The pitch is very good; the ball is coming very nicely. We don’t have a partnership. “We were playing in the middle with Salman Ali Agha; we were just trying to build a partnership, but unfortunately, we have not built a long partnership,” he lamented.
He praised Bangladesh pace bowler Nahid Rana as the quickest bowler in red-ball cricket today.
“He [Nahid Rana] is a nice bowler, and I think he is one of the fastest bowlers right now in red ball cricket.” Every second team has a 140-150 bbowler,so you try and manage those things. “I try to play my natural game and do my level best,” said Babar.
The 31-year-old stated that his own dismissal and Agha’s wicket marked a pivotal moment that shifted the match’s momentum. Repeated batting collapses forced him to ask Pakistan’s batters to be more responsible.
“After that we haven’t built the partnership, so I think these two dismissals have changed the momentum. I think the turning point is my wicket and Salman Ali Agha’s wicket.
“The main thing is as a batting unit we have to take some responsibility, and we have to play with some pain because our issue is that whenever a wicket falls, it falls back-to-back, so you are not able to handle that. We need to sort this thing out, and the same thing has happened again,” Babar concluded.
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