The first Test between England and Pakistan in Rawalpindi has seen runs flowing all throughout the day. After England posted a total of 657 runs in the first innings, Pakistan also gave a strong reply, putting 499/7 on the board by the end of Day 3. Pakistan skipper Babar top-scored for his team, registering a total of 136 runs before being dismissed by Will Jacks. Seeing Babar score another hundred, former England captain Michael Vaughan lauded him as 'the best batter in the world across formats'.
While there's no denying that Babar is one of the top batters in the world, Vaughan's ultimate praise for Babar saw Twitter getting into a frenzy.
While some echoed Vaughan's sentiments of Babar, there were others who gave the pitch most of the credit for his heroics. Here are some reactions:
"That wicket was almost the game-changing moment," said Jacks after the end of day's play. "It was a great day for us -- seven wickets in the day -- and as the match goes on, the pitch will get more turn."
Saturday's final session belonged to home skipper Azam, who hit 19 boundaries and a six for his first Test hundred against England.
He cracked a boundary towards cover off opposition skipper Ben Stokes to reach his eighth career Test century, this coming off 126 balls and studded with 13 boundaries.
Jacks forced a miscued drive off Azam to get him caught at point, and in the next over Mohammad Rizwan played straight into the hands of mid-wicket off Anderson.
Crawley (122), Duckett (107), Ollie Pope (108) and Harry Brook (153) scored centuries for England in their first innings.
The next two Tests are in Multan (December 9-13) and Karachi (December 17-21).
With AFP inputs