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'Bazball' has become one of the most talked about term in world cricket for the past few weeks. England's success in red-ball cricket has been credited to head coach Brendon McCullum and him giving the license to English batters to go after the bowlers instead of staying in the middle for sessions after sessions. While it has been considered the way forward to revolutionise Test cricket, Pakistan skipper Babar Azam took a similar approach in the warm-up game against Sri Lanka Cricket XI.
Azam attacks
Azam had to hurry to the crease in the fifth over as openers Abdullah Shafique and Imam-ul-Haq got out after facing 10 deliveries each. While Azhar Ali took the conservative approach after two quick wickets, Babar looked to counter-attack. He did not just find the gaps but stepped out and hit four huge sixes in his innings.
Babar missed his first century on the tour but got Pakistan out of danger on Day 1 of the warm-up game. He scored 88 runs from 113 deliveries at a strike rate of 77.87 including eight fours and four sixes. He shared a 134-run partnership with veteran Azhar for the third wicket before getting out to Lakshitha Manasinghe.
On the other hand, Azhar missed his half-century and got out for a score of 43 from 119 deliveries including just three boundaries. Fawad Alam (22), Mohammad Rizwan (31) and Saud Shakeel (30) got good starts but could not get big scores.
Debut for Salman?
Agha Salman, who is yet to make his debut impressed at no.8. Salman scored 55 runs from 79 deliveries to help Pakistan score over 300. Pakistan managed to score 323 in the first innings.
On Day 2, Pakistan's frontline fast bowlers Shaheen Shah Afridi and Hasan Ali remained wicketless. Naseem Shah got the solitary wicket of Sahan Arachchige. Salman got the big wicket as well by denying Sadeera Samarawickrama his century. Mohammad Nawaz troubled the Lankan batters and got two wickets.
Crucial battle for WTC spot
Pakistan are scheduled to play two-Test series starting July 16. Recently, Sri Lanka beat Australia by an innings in the second Test and climbed to third spot in the World Test Championships Table (WTC). Sri Lanka are followed by Pakistan at no.4.
