Pakistan’s middle-order batter Babar Azam continued his struggle with the bat during the second Test against Australia at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Wednesday.
Azam, 29, was dismissed by Pat Cummins after scoring just one run as the right-handed batter misjudged the ball and ended up getting bowled.
The 29-year-old is not having a great year, particularly in red-ball cricket as he has now gone eight innings without scoring a Test fifty in 2023.
It happened for the first time since his debut that Azam failed to bag a single half-century in a calendar year. He will have one more chance to deliver for his side this year.
Pakistan played a total of five Test matches this year, one of which is still underway. Their first red-ball encounter of this year was against New Zealand which ended up in a draw.
Azam was Pakistan’s skipper during that time and he managed to score 24 and 27 across two innings.
In July 2023, Pakistan travelled to Sri Lanka to play a two-match series which they won, but Azam continued to fail with the bat.
He scored 13 and 24 in the first Test, meanwhile, during the second Test, Pakistan only played one innings in which Babar contributed 39 runs.
During the current tour of Australia, Babar, once again, failed to deliver for his side as during the first Test, he amassed 21 and 14 runs.
Earlier today, Australia were on top after reducing Pakistan to 194-6 at stumps on day two of the second Test.
The visitors still trail by 124 runs in the first innings with Mohammad Rizwan (29) and Aamer Jamal (2) out in the middle.
Pakistan were 124-1 at one stage but lost quick wickets towards the end of the final session and were pushed on the backfoot.
Abdullah Shafique (62) and Shan Masood (54) smashed fifties but couldn't kick on and score a big one.
Teams
Australia: David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins (capt), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood
Pakistan: Imam-ul-Haq, Abdullah Shafique, Shan Masood (capt), Babar Azam, Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Rizwan, Agha Salman, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Hasan Ali, Mir Hamza, Aamer Jamal
- Babar Azam
