1st Test, Day 3: Azhar's 74* leads the way as Pakistan slowly progress towards first-innings parity

[Abdullah719]

Pakistan trailed Sri Lanka by 153 runs in an evenly balanced first test after reaching stumps at 266-4 on the third day of the first Test in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.

Azhar Ali was 74 not out as Pakistan attempted to move in on the 419 posted by Sri Lanka, which included a ninth Test century from Dinesh Chandimal.

Pakistan resumed the day on 64-0 and extended the opening partnership to 114 before offspinner Dilruwan Perera claimed Sami Aslam lbw for 51.

Fellow opener Shan Masood went only two runs later for 59, bowled by left-arm spinner Rangana Herath.

Azhar and Asad Shafiq (39) stabilised the innings with a 79-run partnership before Herath dismissed Shafiq.

Azhar then shared a 71-run partnership with Babar Azam (28). Azam was caught behind off a delivery from Nuwan Pradeep to end play for the day.

Herath finished with 2-47 off 25 overs.

Pakistan was 121-2 at lunch and went through the afternoon session without conceding a wicket to go to tea at 194-2.

https://www.dawn.com/news/1361018/f...ail-sri-lanka-by-153-runs-with-266-4-at-close

 

[sachin100]

200 runs for just 4 wickets in this age is not good for any kind of cricket.

 

[Chief Destroyer]

It's gonna be a draw. Cricket should be banned at Abu Dhabi.

 

[siri12345]

pakistan are damn lucky .azhar ali and shafiq were clearly out and pak could have been reduced to 121 for 4 but inspite of getting advantage of atrocious ultra edge all pak could manage was taking this game to 50:50 as of now

 

[Markhor]

Losing Babar late in the day was a kick in the teeth. Might achieve 1st innings parity but not the big lead we'd have liked.

We could win this if we bat only once and put SL under pressure on the 5th day but the pitch is so placid and lifeless that this will likely end up a draw.

 

[siri12345]

atleast all the pak fans who labelled lanka as minnows and were expecting anything less than 2-0 unacceptable result for pak must be eating humble pies now

 

[DRsohail]

atleast all the pak fans who labelled lanka as minnows and were expecting anything less than 2-0 unacceptable result for pak must be eating humble pies now

pitch has to be blamed..any decent pitch and u will see what happens..

 

[Slog]

atleast all the pak fans who labelled lanka as minnows and were expecting anything less than 2-0 unacceptable result for pak must be eating humble pies now

It tells more about poor Pakistan tactics

 

[sachin100]

I am astonished to see such low scoring on a pitch which is so docile inspite of not losing many wickets.

If the batsman gets settled he can force the pace on any wickets unless it is so uneven pitch which is not the case here

 

[Buffet]

Bad pitch for stroke making + many stroke less batsmen --> Deadly combination for spectators. No wonder stadium is always empty.

 

[Jabo]

How many opportunities will babar get?
I like him
But don't invest too much time in him
Give someone else the chance

 

[HateKiller]

How many opportunities will babar get?
I like him
But don't invest too much time in him
Give someone else the chance

Has he already got too many chances?

 

[Ilan Bluestone]

Has he already got too many chances?

Clearly 18 innings is too much.

Pakistanis have no patience. When Australia said they will persist with Steven Smith, everyone thought they were foolish, but they knew he was their best talent and would come good.

Pakistanis love to discard their talents and then throw them in the wilderness and blame them when they needed to show patience and persistence.

 

[New Yorker]

Clearly 18 innings is too much.

Pakistanis have no patience. When Australia said they will persist with Steven Smith, everyone thought they were foolish, but they knew he was their best talent and would come good.

Pakistanis love to discard their talents and then throw them in the wilderness and blame them when they needed to show patience and persistence.

Innings wise he's pretty close to when Smith made his breakthrough. Not sure how much time he has.

18 innings would be enough for many a selection board to tell a batsman to go back to FC for a while. It's not the end of him if it happens, he is still very young.

 

[New Yorker]

Clearly 18 innings is too much.

Pakistanis have no patience. When Australia said they will persist with Steven Smith, everyone thought they were foolish, but they knew he was their best talent and would come good.

Pakistanis love to discard their talents and then throw them in the wilderness and blame them when they needed to show patience and persistence.

Except at first, they thought his main talent was spin bowling.

 

[marlonbrowndo]

Worst place in the world to play cricket. Almost as bad as it is to live

 

[Hasan123]

What an awful test match this has been. PCB need to do something about these awful pitches as we aren't playing tests in Pakistan for a while to come.

 

[Bubby]

Hope for the sake of pak fans they get better pitches for the next match hopefully with more life and pace.

 

[Gubol123]

atleast all the pak fans who labelled lanka as minnows and were expecting anything less than 2-0 unacceptable result for pak must be eating humble pies now

Match is yet to get over.. you never know... If Pak is able to bat whole day tomorrow they can put up a decent lead. They still have Azhar, Harris and Sarfarz to bat. Amir, Yasir and Hassan can hit some boundaries too. Knowing that the pitch has nothing in it for bowlers, it is very much possible for Pak to bat whole day tomorrow and be ahead by 100 runs or so. If Pakistan bats for 90 more overs at 2.7/2.8, they will get a lead of around 100. Then attack continuously for 40 overs and see what happens. SL has pretty young team and i won't be surprised if they panic on last day. you never know

 

[Gubol123]

It tells more about poor Pakistan tactics

That is not much of an excuse. no one stopped Pakistan from devising better tactics

 

[Ilan Bluestone]

Innings wise he's pretty close to when Smith made his breakthrough. Not sure how much time he has.

18 innings would be enough for many a selection board to tell a batsman to go back to FC for a while. It's not the end of him if it happens, he is still very young.

I don't have a problem with him going back to FC if need be, and again, it could be next innings and he might just move forward and never look back, but the narrative is discard him and move on, which again is ludicrous.

I meant in general with Smith across the board.

 

[Ilan Bluestone]

Except at first, they thought his main talent was spin bowling.

Irrelevant. Once they saw what he was capable in batting, they persisted with him at the top of the order, even with mediocre numbers, specifically in ODI's, which is relevant because it's more of the narrative to persist with that which you know will come good.

 

[New Yorker]

Irrelevant. Once they saw what he was capable in batting, they persisted with him at the top of the order, even with mediocre numbers, specifically in ODI's, which is relevant because it's more of the narrative to persist with that which you know will come good.

It's relevant to how many Tests he played before he came good. He didn't play his first few Tests on the assumption that he would carry the batting. As is the case with Babar. It's always easy to say in retrospect that it was always evident such and such player would come good, the talent was there to be seen etc. But we all know prodigious talents who fizzled. Ultimately its concentration and application that does the trick. May not be incidental that he is a better ODI bat. And it's hard not to ask questions when someone averages in high 20's after this many Tests.

 

[New Yorker]

I don't have a problem with him going back to FC if need be, and again, it could be next innings and he might just move forward and never look back, but the narrative is discard him and move on, which again is ludicrous.

I meant in general with Smith across the board.

That's ludicrous for any player.

 

[CricketAnalyst]

pakistan are damn lucky .azhar ali and shafiq were clearly out and pak could have been reduced to 121 for 4 but inspite of getting advantage of atrocious ultra edge all pak could manage was taking this game to 50:50 as of now

Srilanka also benefited from this. At this point many people should realize that Ultra is throwing huge number of false positive, so whether it's inside edge or otherwise, almost everytime, UE is going to say there was a nick.

 

[Ilan Bluestone]

It's relevant to how many Tests he played before he came good. He didn't play his first few Tests on the assumption that he would carry the batting. As is the case with Babar. It's always easy to say in retrospect that it was always evident such and such player would come good, the talent was there to be seen etc. But we all know prodigious talents who fizzled. Ultimately its concentration and application that does the trick. May not be incidental that he is a better ODI bat. And it's hard not to ask questions when someone averages in high 20's after this many Tests.

Australia persisted with him once they realized his batting was where he was talented even when he looked poor, and again, I point to the ODIs as well. There are a plethora of examples of players starting slow. I mean Joe Root for example after 30 innings was averaging in the mid thirties himself, but was persisted with. A few good matches and Babar is right there as well.

The fact of the matter is he is a good batsmen and he is finding his footing slowly, and there is no reason to drop him and deter his confidence when he's not the first talented player to go through these types of starts, and be persisted with on much better managed teams.

You're focused a little too much on Smith and the point being that players can start slow, in any format, however if they have the talent, the best teams tend to persist with them, especially in Babar's case where he is showing his prowess in all other formats, and in the end it works well.

We are too quick to jump on players and act like there is no precedent for players to do well later. Yes, it's easier to say it in retrospect, but it is also good to look at history as a reference point. After 18 innings, Inzi averaged 31.

Babar in NZ looked very good as well, which is something people should rate.

No one is saying he is doing a great job or to not question it, but neither should the ax be ready to fall.

When people say:

How many opportunities will babar get?
I like him
But don't invest too much time in him
Give someone else the chance

Yes, I will respond and say, it's ridiculous to not invest in your best talent.

 

[Ilan Bluestone]

That's ludicrous for any player.

....Which is why I was calling out those who directed it towards Babar?

 

[Suleiman]

man what a boring test team. most snail paced top order in the entire world.

babar shouldn't have been demoted.

Haris over Usman? Seriously? One guy has been breaking his back scoring runs upon runs for the last 2 years while the other guy in the same time frame hasn't played a single FC game and was just going through rehab.

And then ofc, the legendary pace is pace yaar strategy on UAE wickets.

Why is it always that when we start succeeding in 1 format we go into a downward spiral in the other? Feels like 2006 all over again.

 

[hadi123]

Babar Azam getting out on the last ball of the day has taken the shine off day 3 for me. I would say it was our day if he was still there as him and Azhar Ali could have got a move on tomorrow but we will have a new batsman instead. Match heading towards a draw but Pakistan could also lose this still. We have had some shocking final day meltdowns recently.

 

[Abdul]

So, the "shot maker" batted at a strike-rate of 34.56. )

 

[Amjid Javed]

Big 1st session for pakistan tomorrow, azhar needs to get a big 100 and sohail and sirfraz need to support him. If we can get past SL total if not we need to get on par on 1st inns and try and force game from there.

 

[QalandarFan]

Sarfraz should come in tomorrow morning and look to get some quick runs.

 

[zn426]

How many opportunities will babar get?
I like him
But don't invest too much time in him
Give someone else the chance

Why? You want to wait another 5-10 years for a #3 bat to come good?

 

[Im Suds]

Terrible defensive selection and terrible defensive batting~ have we not learned nothing from CT Campaign

Very sad~ this is not Pakistans best batting line up

 

[Sadevdesai]

A Draw against SL is almost like a Defeat !!!!

 

[Mocking Bird]

Can't believe that we played 3 pacers on this pitch! Plus a terrible batting approach. ..

 

[Jabo]

Has he already got too many chances?

Nope, he needs to be given another series after this depending on how he plays, but lets not turn him into Shafiq (the golden boy failure)

If Babar cant stick it out in test
Keep him focusing on ODI/T20

And just how Sohail has performed today, give the opportunity to someone else.

Clearly 18 innings is too much.

Pakistanis have no patience. When Australia said they will persist with Steven Smith, everyone thought they were foolish, but they knew he was their best talent and would come good.

Pakistanis love to discard their talents and then throw them in the wilderness and blame them when they needed to show patience and persistence.