Watch: Imam Ul Haq missed out on Test ton as he misreads Ish Sodhi’s googly
In the ongoing Day Five of the Boxing Day Test between Pakistan and New Zealand, the home side needed to bat out the visitors. Pakistan had lost two wickets towards the end of Day Four. The likes of Imam Ul Haq and nightwatchman, Nauman Ali batting at the crease. The score read 77/2 at the start of the ongoing day. However, the team lost the wicket of Ali and skipper, Babar Azam, a short while after.
At 100/4, the team needed their batters to build a partnership. The likes of Haq and Sarfaraz Ahmed stitched a partnership of 85 runs. While Ahmed scored his second fifty in the game, Haq was looking set to get to his another Test ton. However, when the left-hander was batting on 92, Ish Sodhi bowled a googly while Imam was stepping out of the crease. The latter missed the ball and the wicketkeeper, Tom Blundell remove the bails.
Watch the video here
https://twitter.com/TheRealPCB/status/1608757052767342593?s=20
Talking about the game, after the fall of Imam’s wicket, the team was in grave trouble they led by only 30-odd runs. Notably, the opening batter was the seventh wicket to fall with no other batter, apart from Sarfaraz standing tall on a good batting surface. At this stage, the game was almost over.
However, the likes of Saud Shakeel and Mohammad Wasim Jr stitched a partnership of 71 runs and dragged the game into the last session. At the time of writing, Wasim has been trapped lbw by Sodhi, who took a six-wicket haul including Wasim’s wicket. Now, the Babar Azam-led side needs their batters such as Mir Hamza and Shakeel to bat long enough to push for a draw. At this point, they are led by 104 runs with 25 over left in the game.