Pakistani batsman Azhar Ali acknowledges his 100 against Sri Lanka during the second Test in Karachi
Pakistan continued with their dominance on the fourth day of the second Test against Sri Lanka at the National Stadium in Karachi as they declared at 555 for three at lunch, hence pushing their lead to 475 runs. And en route to the massive run total, Pakistan's top-four in the batting lineup equalled Team India's 12-year-old record in Test cricket.
Resuming the day at 395 for two after centuries from both the openers in the second innings - Shan Massod scored 135 while Abid Ali notched up 174 - Pakistan added 160 in 27 overs en route to which both Babar Azam (100 not out) and Azhar Ali (118) completed their respective hundreds. It was for the first time ever that Pakistan's top-four had scored centuries each in the same innings, hence becoming only the second Asian team to achieve this feat. Only India's top four — Dinesh Karthik, Wasim Jaffer, Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar — against Bangladesh in 2007 in Dhaka had scored hundreds in the same innings before today.
Azhar's century was the 16th of his career and sixth against Sri Lanka alone. The captain last scored a hundred over a year ago, a span 14 innings. His 118 came off 157 balls, with 13 boundaries before he was stumped off Lasith Embuldeniya.
Babar, 100 off 131 balls, along with Mohammad Rizwan (21 ) remained unbeaten with Pakistan looking set to push their lead to 500 to take the match out of the tourists reach.
The first test of the two-match series at Rawalpindi, ended in a draw after more than nine sessions were disrupted by the bad weather.
(With AP inputs)
