‌WATCH, AUS vs PAK | Babar Azam accepts “hold the pose” challenge with glorious on-drive

ByArijit Kundu, SportsCafe Editor

11/10/2024

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Not every element in the galaxy are capable of being aesthetically pleasing to the naked eye. But seeing Babar Azam display his orthodox techniques on the Australian pitch might just be one of a kind as he smothered a picture-perfect on-drive and held the pose in the third ODI against Australia.

Eyeing to cement the three-match ODI series, Australia found themselves in deep water against the ruthless Pakistani pace attack. The new ball exploits of Naseem Shah and Shaheen Afridi were followed by Haris Rauf’s brilliant bowling that left the hosts in tatters, being bundled for 140 runs. In response, Saim Ayub and Abdullah Shafique offered an excellent start, adding 84 runs for the first wicket before Lance Morris outsmarted the two in the 18th over. However, that didn’t let the visitors down with Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan steering them home, highlighted by a scintillating on-drive from the former.

After a couple of dots in the 24th over, Babar presented the full face of the bat on a fuller-pitched delivery from Lance on the last ball of the over. He middled it so sweetly that the ball ricocheted past the mid on the fielder’s left swiftly towards the ropes for a four. The fact that the former Pakistan skipper held his pose after perfecting the on-drive even made it look aesthetically pleasing.

Aesthitic!