The Pakistani cricket team is currently in Australia as they are slated to play 3-match test series over there and this time, Shan Masood will be leading the test team as Babar Azam has given up captaincy from all the three formats after Pakistan’s dismal performance in the ICC ODI World Cup 2023.
The first test match will be played from 14 December 2023 at Optus Stadium, Perth. Currently the visitors are playing a warm-up match against the Prime Ministers XI and during the match, Babar Azam did something which left many of his fans perplexed.
During the 36th over, Shan Masood played a straight drive on the bowling of Beau Webster but Babar Azam who was standing on the non-striker end tried to collect the ball which was quite weird. The video clip was shared by cricket.com.au with the caption, “Babar Azam keeping himself in the game at the non-striker’s end….”
Babar Azam keeping himself in the game at the non-striker's end…. #PMXIvPAK pic.twitter.com/bMZk2Nk7pi
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 6, 2023
Soon the reactions started pouring in, many were surprised at this act of Babar Azam, there were some who felt that he was feeling bored and few took a dig at Babar by saying that he wanted to put pressure on the new skipper by stopping the boundary. Check out the selected reactions:
Brain fade moment
— Manoj Tiwari (@ManojTiwariIND) December 6, 2023
Babar you always put yourself in front. That's Great! Nice Efforts
— ******Love & Pain****** (@athaf_2006) December 6, 2023
I am not amazed..Just Pakistan things.
— ProudIndian 🇮🇳 (@LazyPers0n) December 6, 2023
Bobby doesn't want captain to score big, he try to catch out him from non striker
— Farhan (@AbeyJaYar) December 6, 2023
https://twitter.com/Milord00007/status/1732284047974670495
Babar playing for the opposition. 😂
— ProTrader (@ProTrader_100) December 6, 2023
Babar Azam has the plan this time.
— ᴜ. (@Ukhattak01) December 6, 2023
Man Practicing both fielding as well as batting while playing the match
— Utkarsh (@utkarshh_tweet) December 6, 2023
What was he thinking 😂
— Waѕiyullah Budye (@WasiyullahB) December 6, 2023
As far as the match is concerned, the relief for Pakistan is that Babar Azam and Shan Masood stitched a partnership of 92 runs before Babar Azam got out. While Shan Masood smashed a century, Sarfaraz Khan, the senior cricketer played in an aggressive manner and scored 41 runs of 47 balls. However, their opening pair was not able to make any impact as Imam-ul-Haq looked clueless in Australian conditions and Abdullah Shafique also played many poor shots.
Why did Babar Azam try to collect the ball in your opinion? Let us know your views.