WATCH: Babar Azam drops easy catch to leave teammates stunned during 2nd T20I against Australia

Australia and Pakistan met at the Sydney Cricket Ground for the 2nd T20I match on Saturday. The home team had won the opening match, which was reduced to 7-overs per side due to rain. Former skipper Babar Azam left his teammates stunned when he dropped an easy catch. 

The incident occurred when Haris Rauf was bowling to Tim David in the 15th over. Tim David tried to pull the ball but didn’t time it well. Babar, who was fielding at mid-wicket dropped an easy catch. Rauf could only stare at the eyes in disbelief while skipper Mohammad Rizwan was down on his haunches. 

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Haris Rauf was the best bowler for the home team as he picked 4/22 to restrict Australia to 147. This was the second-best bowling figure by a Pakistan bowler against the Aussies with Umar Gul’s 4/8 being the best. Rauf’s 4/22 though is the best for the men in green against Australia in Australia. 

Babar Azam endures a horrific day against Australia 

Former Pakistan captain Babar Azam not only dropped an easy catch but also failed to score with the bat. The 30-year-old came out to open the batting with Mohammad Rizwan in pursuit of the 148-run score. Babar Azam scored just 3 runs before he was dismissed by Xavier Bartlett caught by Nathan Ellis. 

Sahibzada Farhan scored 5 runs from 10 balls before he was caught by Bartlett to give Spencer Johnson his opening wicket. At the time of writing, Mohammad Rizwan was batting on 11 with Usman Khan on 9. In 8 overs Pakistan were placed at 36/2 and was yet to hit a boundary.   

Earlier in the day Josh Inglis won the toss and chose to bat first and saw his team score 147/9 from their 20 overs. Matthew Short was the best batter for the hosts as he scored 32 off 17 balls with 2 fours and 2 sixes. Jason Fraser-McGurk scored 20 runs from just 9 balls with 3 fours and a six. 

Aaron Hardie gave the innings the required impetus with 28 runs from 23 balls. Glenn Maxwell batted well to score 21 runs while the rest of the Australian batting unit kept losing their wickets at regular intervals. Apart from Haris Rauf, it was Abbas Afridi who did well to pick 3/17 while Sufiyan Muqeem picked 2 wickets.