Lunch Pakistan 282 all out and 232 for 4 (Fakhar 66, Azhar 64, Lyon 2-97) lead Australia145 all out by 369 runs
Asad Shafiq and Babar Azam steered the game out of competitive waters and back firmly in Pakistan’s hands with an unbeaten 72-run stand to stretch the lead past 350 by lunch. Australia had started the day extremely brightly, a dominant first hour seeing less than 30 runs scored, with the two set batsman Haris Sohail and Azhar Ali both back in the pavilion.
The session, though, will be remembered for a piece of astoundingly amateur cricket from Pakistan’s two most level heads. Half an hour into the day, it appeared Shafiq and Azhar’s morning coffee still hadn’t begun to make its impact felt. Azhar edged Peter Siddle through the slips, the ball looking destined for the third-man boundary.
The pair were so sure of the four, that they jogged to the middle of the pitch for a leisurely chat. (It isn’t yet known whether they, like Tim Paine and Nathan Lyon last match, were talking about which Inbetweeners episode they were going to watch that night). But the ball stopped just short of the rope, and Mitchell Starc threw it back to Paine, who effected a swift run-out. All this while, Azhar and Shafiq hadn’t moved an inch from the middle of the pitch, perhaps unwilling to accept how absent-minded they had been.
At this stage, the lead was under 300, and Australia may have sensed a chance to bowl Pakistan out quickly. But Babar, whose place in the side has been under some scrutiny, played with the maturity he usually limits to white-ball cricket, and alongside him, Shafiq forgot the madness of the run-out. Pakistan’s scoring rate picked up in the last half hour and Australia began to get desperate; both reviews were used somewhat frivolously. Where it once appeared Pakistan might be run through, it is far likelier that when Australia get to bat, it will be via a declaration.
Nathan Lyon, who had been the visitors’ best bowler yesterday, was rewarded with an early wicket of Sohail in the morning. In truth, he should have had Haris first ball yesterday, only for Paine to put down a sharp chance. He made no such mistakes today when Haris found himself out of his crease after being beaten by Lyon’s turn, taking off the bails and sending him on his way.
It had begun firmly as Australia’s session, but by lunch, Pakistan had crushed any challenges to their authority, firmly establishing themselves in total control once more.