Pakistan vs New Zealand, 1st Test: Babar Azam involved in tense exchange with journalist in presser

Babar Azam was seemingly unhappy after one of the journalists lashed out at him during the press conference after the second Test between Pakistan and New Zealand at the National Stadium in Karachi.

At the end of the presser when Babar was going off, one of the journalists said, “Ye koi tareeka nahi hain, yaha sawaal ke lie aapko ishaare kar rahe hain. (This isn’t the way, people are trying to ask you questions.”

Babar looked at the journalist for a brief while, seemingly with a bit of anger, before going off. It seemed as if Babar wasn’t happy with the journalist. The media manager present in the room switched off the microphone to end the presser.

As far as the match was concerned, the opening Test between Pakistan and New Zealand was drawn. It meant that Pakistan failed to win a single Test at home in 2022. In fact, out of nine Tests in 2022, Babar could only lead his team to victory in one of them.

With one hour left in the Test, Pakistan declared their second innings and set the Black Caps a target of 138 to chase down. Tom Latham and Devon Conway got going before bad light stopped play once and for all.

In the post-match presentation ceremony, Babar said that Pakistan wanted a result out of the game and hence, they declared early.

“As you know, we wanted to get a result, as I said at the toss, and we went for the declaration. But the light was not good enough, so (it ended in a draw),” Babar said.

The second Test is scheduled to get underway on January 2 in Karachi itself and Pakistan will be looking to turn their fortunes around.