Former South African seamer Shaun Pollock's slip of tongue on air went viral on Day 1 of the first Test against Pakistan at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. Pollock accidentally referred to Shan Masood as the captain of India while observing the support that Babar Azam was receiving at the stadium as a video of the same surfaced on social media.
With Babar getting dropped from the Asia Cup 2025 squad, the spectators were quite excited to see the Lahore-born cricketer play for Pakistan. Hence, chants of 'Babar Babar' were echoing around the stadium, even when the partnership between Imam-ul-Haq and Masood. There was also a roar among the crowd when a DRS call for lbw went against the Pakistan skipper, given the next in line to bat was Babar.
Watch the below video as Pollock said on air:
"I can't believe they would want Shan Masood, the captain of India, to be out, in order to get Babar to the crease."
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Babar Azam manages only 23 runs as Pakistan suffer mini collapse after big partnership between Imam-ul-Haq and Shan Masood
It was after Masood perished for 76 that Babar came in and played some glorious shots. The partnership between Imam and Babar amounted to 36 but the former fell seven runs short of a ton as Senuran Muthusamy had him caught at short leg. Saud Shakeel departed on the first ball he faced.
Simon Harmer trapped Babar Azam lbw in the third over after lunch as the home side had collapsed to 199/5 from being 199/2 at one stage. Nevertheless, Mohammad Rizwan and Salman Ali Agha have prevented their side from collapsing further, restoring sanity with an unbroken 49-run partnership.
Earlier, Pakistan had won the toss and opted to bat first, with Kagiso Rabada nipping out Abdullah Shafique in the opening over of the innings.
