Babar Azam Rates His 196-Run Match-Saving Effort vs Australia

Pakistan captain Babar Azam has rated his 196 in the second Test against Australia as "one of his best innings" which has helped his team draw the game from a precarious position. Pakistan in pursuit of a huge target of 506, ended on 443 for 7 with hundreds from Babar and Mohammed Rizwan.

"I think credit goes to the team for having a lot of self belief in themselves and coming back strongly after batting poorly in the first innings. My innings is definitely one of my better ones and I am glad it helped us draw the match," Babar said in the post match conference.

He said he always rated those of his innings very highly which played a big role in Pakistan winning a match or saving it.

The top batter also admitted that he and Muhammad Rizwan had not given much thought to taking a shot at chasing down the total and when wickets fell they played for a draw.

"In the second innings every one gave his 100 percent because we had self-belief in ourselves we could save the match. We decided to take it session by session and not think too much ahead," he said.

Babar added that had he and Rizwan batted together a little longer they would have gone for a run chase but when he and Faheem Ashraf got out on successive balls the best option was to play for a draw.

The Pakistan captain also didn't accept criticism of the pitches used so far in the two tests in Rawalpindi and Karachi insisting they were the same for both teams.

"In Karachi, you usually get some reverse swing and the Australian bowlers got some on the third day and we contributed with some soft dismissals." He noted that spinners had also got some turn in Karachi and Test cricket was always tough but the pitch was not easy to bat on as one had to concentrate hard and it was