NEW DELHI: In a bizarre turn of events, a Pakistani fan was seen rooting for ‘dropped’ Babar Azam during the Pakistan vs England series decider at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium on Thursday.
On the opening day of the third and final Test, a fan held a placard in the stands which read — ‘I skipped school to see King Babar’.
Interestingly, Babar was dropped for the second and the third England Tests after a poor run of form.
A struggling Babar scored 30 and 5 in the first Test against England in Multan after a torrid run against Bangladesh at home.
Out-of-form Babar was then forced out of the side by the selectors for the remainder of the England Test series.
Social media was filled with witty comments after the fan’s placard went viral.
In the decider, England had slumped to 110 for five at lunch on the opening day with Sajid Khan and Noman Ali running through the top half.
While Sajid bagged a three-fer, Noman had a couple of wickets to his name as England found themselves in troubled waters in the series-deciding contest.
Ollie Pope (3), Joe Root (5) and Harry Brook (5) were dismissed for single-digit scores after a steady opening stand from Ben Duckett (52) and Zak Crawley (29).
Skipper Ben Stokes and Jamie Smith were unbeaten at the break on 6 and 5 respectively.