Babar Azam scores scintillating ton to rattle New Zealand

Babar notched up his 9th Test ton [Associated Press]

Under-fire pakistan skipper, Babar Azam slammed his 9th Test century in the first Test against New Zealand on Monday.

Heading into the Test series, Babar was under immense pressure as the Pakistan skipper. They were humbled by England 3-0 and questions were raised regarding his tactical flexibility. But the skipper silenced his critics (at-least with the bat) and bailed Pakistan out of the precarious situation.

Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat first. The decision back-fired as they lost two wickets in quick successions. At 19 for 2, Babar came to the crease and weathered the initial storm. He had a little rebuild alongside with Imam-ul-Haq, before the southpaw threw his wicket away.

At one stage, the home side were tottering at 48 for 3, but Babar made sure that he resurrected their sinking ship and played a calm and composed innings to notch up a terrific ton against a quailty New Zealand bowling attack.

He got support from Saud Shakeel (22) and the returning Sarfaraz Ahmed (30*) as Pakistan made a solid comeback after the early jolt.

At the time of writing, Pakistan are 199 for 4.

Also Read: Babar Azam shatters Ricky Ponting's 17 year old record as a captain