After impressing one and all with the bat in the previous Test against Australia, Pakistan captain Babar Azam once again made his presence felt on the field, but this time with his acrobatic skills.
Babar took a jaw-dropping one-handed catch to get rid of Australian opener Usman Khawaja on Day 1 of the ongoing third Test in Lahore. Khawaja was cruising towards another triple-figure mark in Test cricket, and that’s when Babar grabbed a one-handed stunner.
This all happened on the first delivery of the 75th over bowled by Sajid Khan. The off-spinner pitched the ball down the leg side, and Khawaja went to flick the red-cherry through midwicket. However, the batter found a leading edge and Babar, in the slip cordon, plucked a one-handed blinder to cut short Khawaja’s innings.
Here is the video:
Babar, oh Babar!
Phenomenal effort by the skipper and @SajidKhan244 gets the prize. #BoysReadyHain l #PAKvAUS pic.twitter.com/Nzfye4YxTe— Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) March 21, 2022
Though Khawaja missed out on hitting a ton by a brisk, he wasn’t too disappointed as the Queenslander revealed that he was feeling sick throughout the day due to excessive heat and ‘felt horrible’ while scoring 91.
“I was really feeling it today, I was really struggling from the start. The heat, I was a little bit sick, too. Got some medication off [the] doc in between the breaks, I wasn’t feeling well at all. It was more of a mind game for me, on some level, I was really struggling to be out there,” said Khawaja as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.
Khawaja stated that he could’ve played a big shot and got out for 20 or 30, but he kept pushing himself. The 35-year-old further mentioned that he’s happy of scoring 90 since he wasn’t feeling good at all.
“I was just telling myself ‘keep going, go as long as you can, keeping pushing through’ then to push through for five hours, when I felt absolutely horrible through the day, I take more out of that than anything. Could easily have gone harder, played a big shot, got out for 20 or 30. I felt horrible today, so it was actually a win getting 90…I’m actually really happy with it,” added Khawaja.
