In the ongoing warm-up match between Prime Minister XI and Pakistan, Babar Azam’s hilarious attempt to catch Shan Masood’s straight drive has gone viral. Notably, during an intense partnership between the two, Masood played a brilliant straight drive as Babar on the non-striker's end tried to stop that. However, it was a bit far from his reach as the ball flew by.
The video of the same instantly went viral all over social media. After losing a couple of early wickets, the video brought a lot of joy to Pakistan fans, who would also be impressed with Masood’s performance in the warm-up game. After two early breakthroughs, the newly appointed skipper built a strong partnership with Babar. They stitched an important partnership of 92 runs before Babar Azam went back to the pavilion after scoring 40 runs in 88 deliveries.
Batting at number five, Saud Shakeel couldn’t contribute much but veteran stumper-batter Sarfaraz Ahmed rose up to the occasion. The 36-year-old played an aggressive brand of cricket as he hit 41 runs off 47 deliveries and it can very well be the template for Pakistan in the upcoming three-match series against Australia.
India previously handed the same role to Rishabh Pant while Travis Head plays an attacking brand of cricket for Australia in red-ball cricket. With the aim to do well in Australia this time around, it won’t be surprising if the team management asked Sarfaraz to go about business in order to score some quick runs.
Meanwhile, Masood held one end and played some brilliant cricket on Day 1 of the practice match. He led by example and hit a big century to help Pakistan cross the 300-run mark. However, the concern remains with Pakistan’s opening order. Imam-ul-Haq looked pale in Australian conditions while Abdullah Shafique played a lot of loose shots. Even though he scored 38 runs, against a top-quality bowling unit that would feature the likes of Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, and Josh Hazlewood, Shafique may suffer.