With both the openers dismissed early the onus was on World No. 2 Babar Azam and the seasoned Shoaib Malik to anchor the team's score.The two batted patiently and took their chances at the right occasions on course their 82-run stand for the 3rd wicket. However, the dismissal of Babar Azam triggered a collapse, which was largely an outcome of the immaturity of the middle order.
While Azam fell to a beauty by Kuldeep Yadav, Shoaib Malik survived a chance soon after on the bowling of the chinaman bowler, with Bhuvi failing to hold on to the catch. The very next over, captain Sarfaraz hit part-timer Kedar Jadhav over the mid-wicket for a six, only to get caught at the hands of a sprinting Manish Pandey. Shoaib Malik got run out soon after, while Asif Ali and Shadab Khan lost their wickets in a bid to accelerate instead of stabilising the innings.The Pakistani innings, which was cruising at one point, suddenly lost all the substance with all their batsmen back in the dressing room.
