Babar Azam’s woeful run on home soil continued as he fell for 23 in the Lahore Test match against South Africa.
Kagiso Rabada trapped Abdullah Shafique leg-before with the third ball of the first Test of the two-match series after Shan Masood won the toss and opted to bat. However, Imam-ul-Haq (93) and Masood himself (76) steadied the ship, putting on 161 for the second wicket.
Babar arrived after Prenelan Subrayen trapped Masood leg-before. The wicket did not seem to flutter either batter, and they stretched the score to 199 when Senuran Muthusamy began the last over before tea.
Muthusamy had Imam caught at short-leg with the fifth ball. Saud Shakeel tried to flick the sixth ball, but the leading edge lobbed back to Muthusamy, and tea was taken at that score.
In the third over after tea, Simon Harmer bowled one outside the off-stump. Babar played and missed the turn, and the ball rapped him on the pad. He was given not out, but South Africa reviewed and got the decision in their favour. Pakistan slumped to 199-5.
The dismissal extended Babar’s ordinary run on home soil to 14 innings now. The streak began with the second innings of the first Test against New Zealand in 2022/23 (he got 161 in the first innings). Across these 14 innings, Babar has scored 232 runs at 16.58 and has not gone past 31.
1st Test, Pakistan vs South Africa
vs
- Ball by ball Over
Babar Azam since December 25, 2022 on home soil
| Innings 1 | Innings 2 | Opposition | Venue | Season |
| 161 | 14 | New Zealand | Karachi | 2022/23 |
| 24 | 27 | New Zealand | Karachi | 2022/23 |
| 0 | 22 | Bangladesh | Rawalpindi | 2024 |
| 31 | 11 | Bangladesh | Rawalpindi | 2024 |
| 30 | 5 | England | Multan | 2024/25 |
| 8 | 5 | West Indies | Multan | 2024/25 |
| 1 | 31 | West Indies | Multan | 2024/25 |
| 23 | - | South Africa | Lahore | 2025/26 |
At the time of writing, Pakistan were 265-5 with Mohammad Rizwan (41) and Salman Ali Agha (25) at the crease.
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