PAK vs AUS: Watch - Babar Azam, Steve Smith Involved In A Hilarious Banter At MCG

Pakistan batter Babar Azam was expected to play a huge role for his team in the second game against Australia. The Boxing Day match between the two teams took place at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and it saw the hosts taking an unassailable lead of 2-0 in the series. 

Babar Azam walked to bat with huge baggage of expectations in the chase of 316 runs. Pakistan lost both the openers earlier and the onus was on skipper Shan Masood and Babar to take the team close to the target. The duo lived up a bit to expectations as they played well during one phase. 

When Babar Azam was batting, a hilarious incident took place as well that left many in splits. Ahead of the start of the 34th over, as the Pakistan batter was about to take his guard, Steve Smith in the batting was trying to do shadow batting. 

Steve Smith also was seen explaining something to keeper Alex Carey. Watching this, Babar Azam hilariously asked the Australian batter to bat instead of him. If this was not enough, he offered him his bat as well. Reacting to this, Smith folded his hands, indicating Babar to continue. 

Here’s the video: 

Incredible banter!

Look at how Babar asks Smith only to bat, when he is getting ready to take guard and Smith goes ?

? ? ?#AUSvPAK pic.twitter.com/SYnsDFP7ao

— Nikhil ? (@CricCrazyNIKS) December 29, 2023

Babar Azam looked in decent touch with the bat in the second innings. He bagged a duck in the first innings and something special was expected of him. However, he couldn’t deliver this time around as he perished after a good start. 

Babar Azam looked an elegant touch in the game and played some crisp shots. He kept Pakistan in the game during his partnership with Shan Masood (60) but was again out on an incoming delivery, this time from Josh Hazlewood.

PAK vs AUS: Pakistan fail to chase target; Babar Azam scores 41 as visitors suffer 79-run loss

After a thrashing loss in the first Test against Australia, Pakistan displayed a decent performance in the second game. They played well in patches but couldn’t seal the crunch moment, which was one of the main reasons behind the loss they faced in the second match. 

During the chase, Pakistan at one stage looked favorites. Skipper Shan Masood (60) and Babar Azam (41) added 61 runs partnership and brought the team close to the target. After that, Saud Shakeel (25) batted well for his 55-ball stay but couldn’t utilize the start he got. 

Mohammad Rizwan (35) and Agha Salman (50) were the last hopes for Pakistan as they added 57 runs together and brought the target under 100. However, skipper Pat Cummins stood tall for his team and picked another fifer in the match. 

He bagged five wickets and helped Australia bundled out Pakistan for 264 runs to win the game by 79 runs. It was the 16th consecutive defeat for the Shan Masood-led side down under and they also went 2-0 down in the series. They would now be hoping to play for the pride and win the last game of the series, set to be played in Sydney from 3rd January. Also with crucial World Test Championship points in line, they would be hoping for a better performance.