Pakistan vs Australia 2018: 2nd Test, Day 3, Abu Dhabi - Review
Updated - 18 Oct 2018, 09:29 PM
Pakistan vs Australia 2018: 2nd Test, Abu Dhabi – Day 3 Review; Yet another dominating day for Pakistan in the final Test of the series in Abu Dhabi. The Pakistani batsmen had a blistering time in the middle and the Mir Hamza’s delivery at the end of the day was the perfect icing on the cake.
Babar Azam, Sarfraz Ahmed shine for Pakistan:
After starting the day three on 143/2, Nathan Lyon struck quickly to send Haris Sohail back to the hut. He was swiftly followed by Azhar Ali, who had a brain fade moment in the middle.
He got dismissed in a weird way when he left the crease thinking the ball crossed the boundary ropes. However, Asad Shafiq and Babar Azam steadied the ship with a 75-run partnership before Labuschagne trapped Asad. Meanwhile, the skipper, Sarfraz Ahmed once again knocked the ball brilliantly to shut all the critic masters. He paired up with Babar Azam to add a 133-run partnership for the 6th wicket.
However, Sarfraz Ahmed was once again unfortunate to convert his brilliant knock into a century. On the other hand, Babar Azam also walked back to the pavilion with agony. He missed his maiden Test century by just one run. Mitchell Marsh trapped Babar Azam LBW on 99 to call curtains on his 171-ball knock.
However, after reaching the 400-run mark, Sarfraz Ahmed declared the innings by asking Australia to chase 538 for the victory.
Mir Hamza struck early:
In reply to the chase, Usman Khawaja’s injury asked Australia to open the innings with Shaun Marsh and Aaron Finch. The southpaw was cleaned up by a stunner from Mir Hamza to give an early breakthrough for Pakistan.
All in all, it was once again Pakistan, who took the honours on day three of the Test match. At the end of the day’s play, it was Aaron Finch and Travis Head batting on 28* and 17*, respectively.
Brief Scores of Day 3 of Pakistan vs Australia 2018, 2nd Test:
1st Innings:
Pakistan – 282-all-out
Australia – 145-all-out (Starc 34, Finch 39; Abbas 5/33, Asif 3/23)
2nd innings:
Pakistan – 400/9 (Babar Azam 99, Sarfraz 81; Lyon 4/135)
Australia – 47/1 (Aaron Finch 28*, Head 17*; Hamza 1/19)
