Australia vs Pakistan 3rd Test Day 1: Amidst yet another Cummins display, Pakistan’s resistance is led by Rizwan and Jamal
Australia vs Pakistan 3rd Test Day 1: Amidst yet another Cummins display, Pakistan’s resistance is led by Rizwan and Jamal
Despite a Pat Cummins fifer, Pakistan rallied from a precarious 47/4 to register a valiant 313 on the scoreboard on a rollercoaster of a first day for the third and final Test in Sydney. Only twice during the batting innings did Pakistan appear to be in control of the game after the Australian pacers went through their top order.
Firstly, they amassed 124 runs in the middle session, spearheaded by a brilliant 88 from Mohammad Rizwan. And then, towards the close, Aamer Jamal’s counterattacking maiden half-century hindered the hosts’ attempts to take the last wicket. Between came Cummins’ third consecutive fifer, which only slightly lost its shine because of the rigors the hosts faced in the last session.
Shaheen Afridi was reportedly rested for the visitors’ decision to bat first on a beautiful morning at the SCG, forcing David Warner to wait until the very last over of his farewell Test match. But it was not at all the beginning they had hoped for. Pakistan was reduced to 39/3 after deliveries from Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, and Cummins in their respective second overs of the morning.
On the second ball of the game, Starc enticed Abdullah Shafique to hit an expansive drive, and the Pakistani opener paid a heavy price for trying such a risky shot so early. Saim Ayub, making his debut and taking the place of an injured Inam-ul-Haq, then snatched a good-length ball from Hazlewood that nibbled away slightly to take the lead.
Babar Azam appeared relaxed and even teased with a couple of stunning drives during the disastrous start, but Cummins used DRS to reverse the LBW call after pinging the former captain in the pads with a full ball that swung in quickly. Cummins compounded Pakistan’s problems by getting Saud Shakeel to nick a length ball that held its line in the channel outside off during his opening spell.
In the midst, Rizwan joined Shan Masood, guiding Pakistan to lunch safely and without any further damage at 75/4, but the captain didn’t survive long after the interval. Steve Smith caught Masood at second slip, and it was only Mitchell Marsh’s overstep that gave Masood a life on 32. However, Masood was dismissed in the same manner by the same pair, allowing him to only score three more points.
After joining forces at a dangerous 96/5, Rizwan and Salman Agha produced a 94-run stand that formed the focal point of Pakistan’s post-lunch comeback. Rizwan moved his team over the 100 mark early in the afternoon with a handful of fours. Salman was cautious at first, but Rizwan showed off his entire repertoire of shots and kept himself occupied, driving and sweeping Nathan Lyon to the boundary before reaching his seventh Test fifty with a pull off Hazlewood’s opening ball after a few beers.
In particular, Salman and Rizwan both made excellent use of their feet to maintain fetching frequent boundaries, preventing Lyon from having a chance to settle in during his second stint. For his second six to reach the seventies, Rizwan even slog-swept the spinner. With the boundaries still open, Cummins came back into the assault and, for the thirtieth time in the series, gave his team the early advantage they needed. After a neatly placed short ball, Rizwan misplayed a draw to Hazlewood at the ropes, missing a worthy hundred by twelve. Rizwan had played the stroke so beautifully during his performance.
If Australia appeared to be regaining control at the start of the last session with the crucial scalp, Cummins solidified their lead by finishing his fifer early. He kept using the short ball tactic, which resulted in Hasan Ali and Sajid Khan leaving cheaply. Salman scored a half-century of his own before falling victim to another of Starc’s short balls.
Rizwan & Jamal script stunning comeback after Cummins fifer throws Pakistan into disarray:
Australia was well on its way to victory as 4 for 37 collapsed, but Jamal chose to rewrite history once more. For 22.1 overs, he bewildered the home team, and he and Mir Hamza, who played the perfect second violin, put up an 86-run partnership off of just seven of the 43 deliveries he faced.
Jamal had remarkable tenacity with the bat in his 97-ball innings. Jamal had earlier in the first Test of the series taken a six-fer on debut. He was granted a few reprieves as Australia failed to capitalize on difficult opportunities, but he confronted the home team’s short-ball tactic head-on when Cummins and Hazlewood all came under siege.
In his counterattacking 82-run haul, Jamal combined aggression and caution, hitting four sixes and sparing neither Lyon nor part-timer Marnus Labuschagne. With the second of Starc’s three fours in a costly over of thirteen runs, he reached a fifty-plus on 71 balls. He then tore into Lyon with two sixes and numerous fours in his next overs to reach the eighties.
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After skipping down the track to take on the offie, Jamal ultimately holed out to long-on. Despite losing out on a personal milestone, he guided Pakistan to a good first innings total and left to a standing ovation.
Amidst thunderous cheers from the spectators and a salute from the rival team, Warner emerged victorious. He opened the scoring with a beautiful boundary through the covers in the opening ball. Then, he held his nerve to avoid chopping the penultimate ball back onto his stumps, which allowed Australia to reach six wickets without losing a wicket.
Brief scores: Australia 6/0 (David Warner 6*) is 307 runs behind Pakistan 313 (Mohammad Rizwan 88, Aamer Jamal 82, Salman Agha 53; Pat Cummins 5-61).
