Azhar Ali continued his purple patch in the ongoing bilateral series against Bangladesh as the right-handed batsman blasted his maiden double hundred yesterday to take Pakistan to a position of authority in the second and final Test.
Resuming the second day on 323/3, Pakistan added a further 234 runs before declaring their first innings on 557/8 with Azhar leading the way with a fine 226. In reply, Bangladesh ended the day on 107/5, trailing the visitors by 450 runs with three days remaining.
With Pakistan in a strong position, weather seems to be the only obstacle on their path to a series victory. Weather forecast suggests the remainder of the Dhaka Test will be affected by thunderstorms but Azhar said they are only focussing on their performance, rather than the weather.
“First of all, I think we are sitting in a very good position and I think we have to play good cricket throughout the game. You know, unless it’s over we have to focus while you can’t really control the weather. We are only focussing on our game,” Azhar told the media at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday.
The 30-year old was in terrific touch until Shuvagata Hom dismissed him for a well-made 428-ball 226. Azhar smote 20 boundaries and two sixes and his 226 was the 22nd instance of a cricketer smashing a double hundred against Bangladesh.
“Overnight, everyone was thinking about it but you can’t think at 127 that you can make 200 based on what the situation was. So, that required a little bit of calmness. I did that. After that, we started rotating the strike and in the end it went quite well,” he said.
The Pakistan ODI skipper believes the pitch might not have had assistance for the spinners in the first two days but from the third day onward, it will have some purchase for the slow bowlers as cracks will start to appear.
