Babar Azam was left “disappointed” while trying to comprehend the shot he had played after being set on the crease on Day 3 of the second Test against South Africa. Babar stood on the cusp of breaking his Test century hiatus on a benign surface of Newlands. Since tonking a century against New Zealand in 2022, Babar has bid his time for his next three-digit score in red-ball cricket. It seemed as if the stars had finally aligned to favour Babar and grant him his wish of getting his hands on his 10th Test hundred. With 15 minutes left for the day to end, a moment where Babar’s efforts were undone after his unwavering concentration lapsed for a moment.

He went for a booming cover drive but only found a thick outside edge. Bedingham, stationed at the gully, boasted his sharp reflexes and went low within the blink of an eye to take a stunner. Marco Jansen celebrated in jubilation as South Africa finally got the much-needed breakthrough.

Even in the first innings, the manner of dismissal came down to Babar’s shot selection. He was lured to give away an edge by debutant Kwena Maphaka straight to wicketkeeper Kyle Verreynne.

In the end, disappointment overcame Babar, “I’m very disappointed with both innings. I started well but didn’t finish well,” he said. “If you settle, you must go much bigger. That is why I was a bit upset. There were just 15 minutes left,” he said, as quoted from ESPNcricinfo.

The manner of dismissal was more painful for Pakistan fans and Babar, especially when South Africa posed no threat to him or his compatriot Shan Masood.

“The conditions here are different from Centurion. When you come to South Africa, you don’t expect that [the pitch will be so flat]. With the new ball, it was a bit challenging, but once you settled down and built a partnership, it became easier,” he said.

Despite missing out on a century, there was some relief for Babar, considering he finally scored a fifty in the format after two years. Since the second innings during the first Test in Centurion, Babar has gone from strength to strength and hammered three fifties on trot in the same number of innings.

However, all of his dismissals came down to either a lapse in concentration or a shot that wasn’t the best pick of that delivery.

“I should have capitalised during our partnership, but unfortunately, it didn’t happen. In the second innings, my partnership with Shan has helped us come back into the game a little,” he added.

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