Azhar Ali whacks himself on the head while raising his bat after century

Prior to the third and final Test against England, Azhar Ali was, well and truly, under the pump. Neither he was able to lead this team to victories, nor he was getting enough runs with the bat. The 35-year-old was made the Test captain last year after Sarfaraz Ahmed faced the axe. Not even 12 months into his captaincy stint, questions are being raised regarding his credentials.

However, the Lahore, Punjab-born has, somewhat, managed to break the shackles in Pakistan’s ongoing Test at the Rose Bowl in Southampton. Though the visitors have strained as a team, Azhar hasn’t flattered to deceive by any means. After England churned out 583 in their first innings, Pakistan conceded the hosts a massive lead of 310 runs, getting bowled out for 273.

Azhar Ali gets back to form

In a sorry-looking scorecard, Azhar was one of the silver linings. The veteran stayed unbeaten on 141 off 272 balls with the help of 21 fours. Barring Mohammad Rizwan, who managed 53 runs, no other batsman was able to lend Azhar adequate support. Ali came to bat after James Anderson trapped opener Shan Masood and ever since then, the number-three batter looked at ease.

Anderson picked up a five-wicket haul, but couldn’t uproot the Pakistan skipper. In the third session of the third day’s play, he got to his 17th Test century off 205 balls, showing that he hasn’t run out of gas by any means. It was his 138-run partnership with Rizwan that helped the visiting team gain some sort of respectability after losing half-their-side at a mere score of 75.

In the meantime, Azhar almost suffered an accident after he got his ton. To get to his century, he caressed Dominic Bess through the covers for a boundary and looked at the heavens. Thereafter, he opened his helmet, acknowledged the crowd. But, accidentally, he smacked himself with the bat.

Luckily for him, he didn’t sustain an injury and was able to carry on. As far as his century goes, he also got applauses from head coach Misbah-ul-Haq, batting coach Younis Khan and the other Pakistan teammates, who were standing in the dressing room.

Here’s the video: – 

pic.twitter.com/Y5d35vxqQN

— faceplatter49 (@faceplatter49) August 23, 2020