Babar Azam out for 76 — Century drought continues vs England

When Babar Azam brought up his half-century during the second innings of the third Test against England at Edgbaston, many expected him to reach his three-figure mark with the bat. But he failed to convert the fifty as he was dismissed for 76 runs, continuing his struggle against the short ball.

In the second Test match, Jofra Archer bowled a superb short ball to Babar, who was in no position to tackle the ball and was bounced out into the hands of the slip region. England tried the same plan and put the veteran batter in an uncomfortable situation in the middle.

Babar Azam falls for 76 as Josh Tongue strikes again at Edgbaston

On the final delivery of the 54th over of the innings, Babar looked to the heavens as he raised his bat to acknowledge the applause after he pushed the full delivery into the backward point region for a couple of runs to complete his half-century.

Watch Babar Azam's dismissal here-

Archer brought up his short ball tactic against Babar, who slashed the ball outside the off stump. The thick top-edge flew over the fence for a massive six. However, in the very next over, he was dismissed for 76 runs, shouldering on 11 boundaries and one six.

It was the third delivery of the 63rd over as Babar couldn’t avoid the short delivery. He tried to help it fine as the ball took the glove before Jordan Cox grabbed a superb airborne catch to send the batter back to the pavilion. His century drought for nearly 42 months continues in the longest format.

Shan Masood's 95 and Babar's 76 power Pakistan's second-innings recovery

Once England posted a massive score of 453 runs on the board and Pakistan lost their two wickets without any run on the board in just four balls, the pressure was massive on the visitors. Shan Masood and Azan Awais, thanks to their respective fifties, recovered them with a 125-run third-wicket stand.

Masood missed out on his well-deserved century by five runs as Dan Lawrance grabbed a superb once-handed low catch. But there were 89-run and 64-run partnerships in the middle and lower order as Pakistan, for the very first time in this trip, crossed the 200-run mark as a team.

But they continued to lose wickets after Babar’s dismissal. However, they showed good fight on the third day’s play.

Brief Scores: Pakistan 347/8 (Shan Masood 95, Gus Atkinson 3/76) & 133 (Saud Shakeel 43, Josh Tongue 4/42) lead England 453 (Harry Brook 75, Razaullah 4/148) by 27 runs.