After crushing Pakistan in the finals of the 20-20 World Cup 2022, England are in Pakistan to take part in a three-match Test series and the first match kicked off on December 1, Thursday and it has been a high-scoring game so far, as Ben Stokes’ men went on to accumulate 506 runs on the first day.
The English camp put on 657 runs on the board on the back of centuries from Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope and Harry Brook. In reply, Babar Azam’s men got off to a great start as the openers put on 225 runs for the first wicket. As one could expect, Babar did get a century to his name and went on to score 136 runs to his name.
While Abdullah Shafique scored 114 runs, Imam-ul-Haq, on the other hand, gathered 121 runs before making his way back to the dressing room on the back of an unplayable delivery from Jack Leach. Pakistan started to collapse right after Babar’s wicket and remained at 499/7 at the end of Day 3.
Can Pakistan win first Test at Rawalpindi?
As things stand, it remains to be seen if Pakistan could clinch a win out of the high-scoring Test, which is inching towards a draw. Much to the stupefaction of the English fans, Babar and his men gave a tough fightback and James Anderson, the lead pacer, has picked up only one scalp in the match so far.
Eventually, the Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) chief Ramiz Raja faced trolls for not having a talk with the pitch curator and many called it a ‘roadway’ depicting the helplessness that the pacers face on this batter-friendly pitch.
Pakistan’s captain was trolled despite scoring a century for the very reason and the fans claimed that he could only score on flat pitches and even put out his away records. However, ardent fans of the talented batter hit back by saying that Babar is the only one of all who is giving his heart to the team.
As things stand, let us take a look at a few Twitter reactions to Babar’s innings:
@babarazam258 is easily the most loved cricketer of pct fans🥰🥰#BabarAzam𓃵 #ENGvPAK pic.twitter.com/TmDOJZ9Dcj
— Ahmad Aftab (@aftabahmad1231) December 3, 2022
#BabarAzam𓃵 pic.twitter.com/sG2GSA2t97
— Bilal Abbasid (@bilalabbasi1038) December 3, 2022
Even jaspreet bumarah can score a 100 on this wickets#BabarAzam #ENGvPAK pic.twitter.com/L5DghK2Pzk
— TROLL PAKISTAN CRICKET (@TrollPakistanii) December 3, 2022
100 on a flat pitch and 3 in 62 innings outside Pakistan . Babar is the 👑.
— SR Ramnarayan (@RamnarayanSr) December 3, 2022
Babar Azam ko road jaisa pitch de do phir to thik h otherwise we saw real Babar Azam in Asia Cup & World Cup… @SushantNMehta @YaariSports
— Chandan jha (@JhaMegastar) December 3, 2022
Babar Azam is already 28 and has ZERO iconing test knock in his career. 5 out of 8 test centuries came on Pakistan's Road where average inning total is quite high compared to this era
— ♡ Chirag Chauhan 💙🕊️ ♡ (@btwimchirag) December 3, 2022
Only scored 3 overseas centuries.
Kl Rahul has better test legacy than him if we are honest.
Babar doesnt care about test match and victory. All he knows is going for personal records and open the batting. He is selfish man and poor captain. #BabarAzam𓃵
— The-Other-Side (@adamant457) December 3, 2022