Twitter reacts to Azhar Ali accidentally hitting himself with bat while celebrating his century

08/23/2020

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It was Jos Buttler on Saturday and today, well it was Azhar Ali. Under enormous pressure, on the verge of losing his place in the side, the Pakistan skipper struck a flawless, doughty ton to keep his side alive in the Test. However, he encountered an unexpected obstacle which ruined his celebration.

The ongoing Test series between England and Pakistan, in a way, has served as a series for redemption. First Shan Masood, who was humiliated by James Anderson during his last visit to the United Kingdom, redeemed himself by striking a note-perfect ton in the first Test and then Jos Buttler followed his path in the second Test by redeeming himself for his wicket-keeping goof-ups by playing a match-winning fourth-innings ton. So following the same route, Pakistan skipper Azhar Ali, who had registered scores of 0, 18 and 20 in the first two Tests and was on the verge of being dropped, on Sunday, redeemed himself with a marvelous, high-quality century.

With Pakistan reeling at 30/4, Azhar stood firm against a rampant Anderson, Broad and Archer and fought his way to what could be considered as the most courageous ton of his career. The Pakistan skipper brought up his 17th Test century in style in the 73rd over through an exquisite drive off Dom Bess.

However, after surpassing every obstacle that came his way till he got to his ton, Azhar faltered within moments of getting to the landmark. Reveling in the moment, the right-hander, after getting to the three-figure mark, removed his helmet and attempted to raise his bat towards the dressing room, but, in the process of doing so, ended up accidentally smacking his own face with the willow. The blow stung him by surprise, but thankfully, he shrugged it off in no time and raised his bat to perfection to reward himself with the moment of elation he deserved. The only piece of ‘entertainment’ on a rather dull day, I should say

Azhar Ali whacked himself while raising the bat

pic.twitter.com/Y5d35vxqQN
— faceplatter49 (@faceplatter49) August 23, 2020

What a moment for Azhar Ali

A round of applause from the 🇵🇰 dressing room for @AzharAli_ 👏👏👏 #ENGvPAK pic.twitter.com/R14cl6VCCo
— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) August 23, 2020

LoL

azhar ali celebrates his century by whacking himself in the head with his bat
— olly (@sewadyllo) August 23, 2020

Captain's knock

"When the going gets tough, The tough gets going". What a timely century by Azhar Ali. Silenced all his critics. Can be more productive with the bat, if not burdened with captaincy. #ENGvPAK #RaiseTheBat
— Agha Sabir Ali (@AghaSabir) August 23, 2020

Hahahaha

Azhar Ali has just scored Pakistan's 400th Test century 💯. Now the other race is on - next duck will be Pakistan's 800th Test duck. #ENGvsPAK #AzharAli
— Muhammad Jhangir (@Muhamma02157660) August 23, 2020

Well played Azhar Ali

Outstanding knock by @AzharAli_ ! He needed this badly. This might be his best test innings. Congratulations on completing 6K test runs! Make it big now!
— Muhammad Faiq (@Faiq1831) August 23, 2020

Well deserved 100