2 min readAug 4, 2026 11:01 PM IST
Babar Azam’s wait for a Test century continued as he missed out on one by 12 runs due to a mix-up with his partner Abdullah Shafique. Babar, who was reinstated as Pakistan’s Test captain before their ongoing two-match tour of West Indies, had got to 88 in 147 balls when he went for a single that doomed his innings in the second Test in Port of Spain.
Babar knocked Jomel Warrican’s fifth ball of the 75th over into the off side and set off. Brandon King came flying in at cover and threw the ball at the non-striker’s end in one swift motion. King seemed to have hurt himself with this and eventually needed a stretcher to be helped off the field.
But he had done the job, Babar was sent back by Shafique and he couldn’t make his ground before the stumps were broken. West Indies had built up pressure prior to that, keeping things tight in the field and denying Pakistan any easy runs.
Babar has been in comparitively better form in this series. He scored a century in the warm-up match before the first Test and followed that up with an unbeaten 58 in the second innings of the first Test.
The 88 he scored on Tuesday was his highest since the last time he scored a century in December 2022. Babar had scored 161 in the first innings of Pakistan’s first Test against New Zealand in Karachi at the time. While that was his third century in seven Tests, Babar has failed to score a ton since then.
Babar and Shafique had put up a partnership of 183 in 237 balls for the second wicket. Since then, he has gone past 150 and anchored Pakistan’s progress even as they lost a couple of wickets in quick succession after Babar’s dismissal. Shafique’s knock has allowed Pakistan to take a lead.
