Twitter Reactions: Sohail and Babar star as Pakistan stroll along

Their partnership took the hosts to a commanding position.

Published - 25 Nov 2018, 19:08 IST | Updated - 25 Nov 2018, 19:08 IST

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Pakistan commenced the second Test in Dubai in a convincing fashion as they racked up 207 runs in 90 overs. Sarfraz Ahmed and Co didn’t panic in the second day as well and played with patience and eventually declared at 418/5 in 167 overs. At the close of play, New Zealand have plenty of work to do as they are trailing by 394 runs, albeit they have all their wickets intact.

Sohail put his head down

Haris Sohail and Babar Azam were the overnight batsmen and they carried on with the good work from the last day. The duo played together until lunch as Pakistan ended the session with 274/4. In the meantime, Sohail notched his second Test century and even Babar accomplished a half-century. Both didn’t play a shot of anger but ensured that the scoreboard keeps moving.

They even took Pakistan through to Tea as the stand went from strength to strength. At the end of the second session, Sarfraz’s men raised themselves to 356/4. Babar remained not out on 99 and just after the beginning of the final session, he notched his maiden Test century. Their partnership was eventually broken by Trent Boult when he dismissed Sohail, who scored 147 from 421 balls.

Raval and Latham see Kiwis through

The left-hander’s knock was laced with 13 boundaries. After Sohail’s dismissal, Babar and skipper Sarfraz put on 58 runs for the sixth wicket. Pakistan declared their innings with nine overs left in the day. Babar and Sarfraz remained not out on 127 and 30 respectively. The Black Caps were in with a rather challenging task of playing the remaining overs without losing any wicket.

Jeet Raval and Tom Latham opened the batting and showed determination of staving off the Pakistani bowlers without much fuss. The home team tried with as many as five bowlers to make the first breakthrough, but the batsmen didn’t get flustered. While left-handed Raval smacked three boundaries to score 17, Latham scored a patient 23-ball 5 with a solitary boundary.

Here is how Twitter reacted

Worst declaration i have ever seen… #PAKvNZ
— Ahmad HaSsan (@meHassan_96) November 25, 2018

Cricket sometimes is hard to understand. Pakistan today declared at 418-5 with just 20 runs in the last six overs. Against Australia, they declared after batting back to back maiden overs. #PakvNZ
— Mazher Arshad (@MazherArshad) November 25, 2018

The plan for declaring early has backfired for Pakistan.#NZvsPAK #PAKvNZ
— DV 🏏🇮🇳 (@deepakv712) November 25, 2018

Finally #BabarAzam scored his maiden test 💯. Congratulations @babarazam258 , it has been coming !#PAKvNZ
— خان (@Cashefkhan) November 25, 2018

Pakistan played shit. No offence but you can't bat for 2 days and just score 417 runs. #PAKvNZ
— Rajat (@EdinAzzaaa) November 25, 2018

Pakistan 418 runs in 167 overs what a third class batting performance on home ground #PAKvNZ
— Waseem Ahmad (@ImWaseemAhmad) November 25, 2018

End of Day 2. 🇵🇰 418-5 dec.
In reply nz 24-0
A wicket before close would have been ideal. Still confused with declaration. Anyway day 2 to #TeamPakistan #PakvNZ 🏏
— 💚🇵🇰Riz🏆2017 CHAMP🏏🇵🇰💚 (@riz007_007) November 25, 2018

Misbah-Younis used to build an innings slowly but they always hit SIXES and play much faster than people thought they will.
This is the missing factor in this Team. Haris+Asad+Azhar+Babar all Go at same speed from start.
NEED IMPROVEMENT. #PAKvNZ
— – (@AqeelSays_) November 25, 2018

KUDOS to Babar Azam & Haris Sohail . 👍
Great temperament & Patience.#PAKvNZ
— Eimran Ali Khan (@EimranAliKhan) November 25, 2018

Maiden Test 💯 Century Come up for Babar Azam 👏
Congrats @babarazam258 👏#PAKvNZ #NZvPAK pic.twitter.com/wLtzqMejPp
— Faraz Hussain Baloch (@faraz_pti2) November 25, 2018

If Pak would had scored with the R.rate of 3.3 then in same no of Overs Pak runs could hv been 550 instead of 418..
A huge difference!!
#PAKvNZ
— Syed Atif (@GreatKingMisbah) November 25, 2018

He always has been a class player. Congratulations @babarazam258 for your maiden Test century.. Many more to come. 🇵🇰#PAKvNZ
— Mudassar Nazir (@Mudassar1438) November 25, 2018