Azhar s 139 helped guide Pakistan to 257 for three at stumps on Thursday s second day of the third Test in Birmingham, just 40 runs behind England s first innings 297.
Advertisement
Yet it was still an outstanding innings.
The grey skies above Edgbaston promised to offer swing movement to Pakistan’s fast bowlers and make life hard for England’s batsmen. He reached his century when he gloved his tenth boundary down to fine leg during the final session, celebrating extravagantly and following the lead of his captain at Lord’s with a set of press-ups.
England paid the price for dropping him twice.
His initial frustration appeared to stem from Joe Root dropping Azhar on 38 at second slip, a costly fielding mistake that has been a hallmark of England’s cricket this summer.
Anderson may have struck early to remove Hafeez but England s all-time leading Test wicket-taker found himself involved in unpleasant scenes with on-field umpires Bruce Oxenford and Joel Wilson.
Pakistan dropped out-of-form opener Shan Masood for left-handed Sami Aslam while Steven Finn came in for England in place of injured Ben Stokes, who will miss the rest of the Test series.
James Vince was 16 not out and Gary Ballance 18 not out. But they staged a minor comeback before lunch, after initially struggling at 75/3.
Azhar added a further 76 runs with Younis Khan (21 not out) and even thwarted England with the second new ball for almost 10 overs – before Woakes got his first wicket in his 19th over of the day, much to the disappointment of Azhar.
“It was a frustrating day”, said Anderson.
England may have hoped to run through the Pakistan top order after Hafeez tamely lobbed an Anderson long hop to point, only for Azhar and Aslam to show that the hosts’ first-day batting effort was substandard.
Azhar lamented the manner of Aslam s exit 18 runs shy of what would have been a fairytale century.
“I tried to ball fast, I can still bowl fast, but then I met various coaches and they told me to bowl as per the conditions”.
To add to the quality of Aslam’s innings was the fact that he had not had a first-class knock since last December.
When he did score, he guided the ball to third man, worked off his pads, or busily looked for singles on the off side. He rarely looked hurried into his shots and only attacked when it was a low-risk option.
3 Pakistan players scoring fifty in their maiden innings as an opener in England.
Looking back on the journey, Sohail felt, “I couldn’t bowl well in my first Test in Karachi and some catches were also dropped off my bowling”.
Advertisement
By the time Aslam paid for Azhar’s misjudgment, and Vince’s accuracy, a run-out had perhaps become England’s best bet. Though, he leaked some runs, but I think that was the plan given to him.
