Karachi, Mar 16 (AP) A resilient career-best 168 by captain Babar Azam gave Pakistan hope to salvage a draw against Australia in the second test on Wednesday.

Babar blunted the reverse swing of experienced fast bowlers Pat Cummins (2-56) and Mitchell Starc and also survived two sharp chances close to the wicket off Mitchell Swepson's successive deliveries late in the second session to guide Pakistan to 310-4 at tea on Day 5.

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Wicktkeeper-batsman Mohammad Rizwan also hung in to reach 14 off 54 balls and survived a lbw television referral off Nathan Lyon.

Australia, which has set Pakistan an improbable world record target of 506 runs in over five sessions, still has 36 overs to claim the remaining six Pakistan wickets and take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

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Babar has defied Australia for 8 1/2 hours and faced 363 balls since arriving at the crease in the second over after lunch on Day 4 with Pakistan reeling at 21-2.

Babar, who has hit 18 fours, also survived a close leg before wicket television referral off Lyon when on 157 he was struck on his front pad but the replays suggested the ball grazing the leg stump and the onfield umpire's not out decision was upheld.

Cummins struck twice on either side of lunch when he denied Abdullah Shafique his second successive test century and then got a thick outside edge of Fawad Alam after lunch.

Cummins ended Shafique's marathon 96-run, almost 8-hour knock when Steve Smith held onto a healthy edge at first slip in the penultimate over before lunch.

Shafique showed a lot of patience and faced 305 balls after getting dropped on 20 on Day 4 when Smith floored a sitter in the slips.

Shafique, who scored his maiden test century in the drawn first test at Rawalpindi last week, again showed grit by combining in a 228-run stand with skipper Babar before he drove at a full pitched delivery from Cummins in a rare lapse of concentration to give Australia a sniff of victory.

Babar continued to dominate both pace and spin and also survived a short pacey spells of Mitchell Starc and Cummins, who couldn't get enough swing to trouble the batters with the second new ball after Pakistan resumed on 192-2.

Starc twice came close but both times the left-armer's faster deliveries missed the outside edge of Babar's bat in one over.

Babar welcomed Swepson in the seventh over of the day with two successive boundaries and also swept him to fine leg for another four. Shafique also used his feet well against the leg-spinner for a cover driven boundary before Cummins gave Australia a much awaited breakthrough as Pakistan scored 62 runs in the first session. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)