5 best Test innings of 2019
The outgoing year 2019 witnessed some great batting efforts from players belonging to several teams. We saw a triple hundred from David Warner and several double hundreds of great quality too.
It was also a year where many good bowlers made the task of scoring runs difficult. But the very best batsmen still found a way to rise above those challenges.
As we come to the end of 2019, let us look at the five best Test innings played in the last 12 months. The innings listed below were special not just because of the amount of runs scored but also due to the situation in which they were played and the opposition involved.
5. Babar Azam (104 vs Australia, Brisbane)
Watching Babar Azam bat is one of the most pleasant experiences in cricket.
While the 25-year-old has been a prolific century-scorer in the ODI format, his performances in Test cricket had earlier been falling short of expectations. However, this year proved to be the turning point in the right-hander’s career, as he started to realize his potential in the longest format too.
In the first Test of the two-match series in Australia, while his team suffered a devastating loss, Azam managed to score a sublime hundred that left everyone in awe. His 104 came when his team was up against it – battling to save an innings defeat and reduced to 94/5.
What made his job even tougher was the incredible Australian bowling attack – Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon – which had dominated the match until that point. Azam not only managed to keep them at bay, but he also dazzled everyone with his sublime stroke-play.
The natural talent that Azam always had blossomed fully amidst the otherwise barren performance of Pakistan.