SA vs Pak, 2nd Test: Babar Azam-Shan Masood’s 150-plus partnership help Pakistan survive follow-on at Cape Town

Almost a week after ending his runs drought by scoring a half-century while playing against South Africa on DAY 3 of the first Test at Centurion, Pakistan's former skipper Babar Azam on Sunday scored another half-century in the second Test in 73 balls.

Azam's half-century arrived as Pakistan is chasing a mammoth target of 616 runs against South Africa at Cape Town's Newlands. Until the last report was filed, Babar has scored 62 runs in 95 deliveries and was on crease.

Not only this, Azam (62*) stitched a partnership of over 150 runs with skipper Shan Masood, who was playing at 80 runs off 127 deliveries.

Meanwhile, Pakistan's first innings was over in just 194 runs, and in the follow-on, they have scored 156/0 in 36 overs. Pakistan is still trailing by 265 runs.

Earlier, they lost the Centurion Test against South Africa by 2 wickets, that helped the Proteas to become the first team to qualify for the World Test Championships 2025 finals.

Babar's struggles with bat: Before Babar's previous half-century at Centurion that came after a gap of 733 days, the former Pakistan star batter hit a half-century in Test cricket in December 2022, and ever since, he has struggled to score runs for his team.

According to the Times of India, Babar Azam's last half-century came against New Zealand in Karachi, and it took him 19 consecutive innings without reaching fifty.

Not only his half-century, but even his highest 41 runs off 79 deliveries came against Australia in Melbourne in 2023.

Babar Azam who has nine international centuries to his name in Tests, has not added any new one since 2022, after New Zealand toured Pakistan in that year.

Looking at Babar's stats, Babar Azam made his Test debut in 2016 and scored a total of 4051 runs at an average of 43.55. His highest score till date is 196.

SA vs Pak, 2nd Test: In the second Test match at Cape Town's Newlands, South Africa's Ryan Rickelton became the first South Africa batter to score a Test double ton in nine years.

The Proteas left-handed batter reached the milestone off 266 balls post Hashim Amla who achieved this feat in 2016.

Though opening with Aiden Markram, Rickelton made a fourth-wicket partnership with skipper Temba Bavuma of 235 runs for South Africa. Following this, Bavuma – who also scored a century (106 off 179 deliveries) was dismissed by Salman Agha. SA have scored 615 runs in 141.3 overs.

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