Babar Azam suffers his first ever Test duck in Pakistan

Pakistan decided to go with an all-pace attack at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium against Bangladesh to make full use of the pace-friendly pitch dished out. However, once they lost the toss, the plan backfired miserably within the first 10 overs. 

Pacers Shoriful Islam and Hasan Mahmud were bang on the money from the first ball, and the pressure showed on Abdullah Shafique when he threw the kitchen sink at a wide full ball from Hasan Mahmud. Zakir Hasan took a spectacular catch at the gully to give Bangladesh their first wicket of the day. 

Soon after, skipper Shan Masood also walked back to the pavilion after a contentious caught-behind call. 

However, the most severe impact happened on Pakistan’s morale after ace batter Babar Azam was dismissed for his first-ever duck in a Test match in Pakistan. The Pakistani white-ball skipper entered the contest with an average of 71.00 and a stellar record overall at home. However, he departed on his very second ball today.

Shoriful bowled the delivery short and down the leg-side. It was a poor delivery, however Babar decided to fiddle with it and he ended up gloving it to the keeper Litton Das, who took a flying catch diving to his left.

It was a delivery that could have easily been left alone, but ultimately, it cost Pakistan their biggest wicket of the innings. 

This was overall the eighth duck of Babar's Test career and his first since 2021. 

Babar's dismissal meant that Pakistan lost 3+ wickets inside the first 10 overs in a home Test just for the second time this century. The only other occasion came against India in Karachi, when Irfan Pathan famously took a hat-trick in the first over of the Test.

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