No escape route for Australia in tense Test

Published November 1, 2014
Australian cricketer Mitchell Starc (C) looks on as Pakistani batsmen Younis Khan (L) and Azhar Ali run between wickets during the first day of the second test cricket match between Pakistan and Australia at Zayed International Cricket Stadium in Abu  Dhabi on October 30, 2014. — Photo by AFP
Australian cricketer Mitchell Starc (C) looks on as Pakistani batsmen Younis Khan (L) and Azhar Ali run between wickets during the first day of the second test cricket match between Pakistan and Australia at Zayed International Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi on October 30, 2014. — Photo by AFP

Not in recent memory have I experienced an Australian bowling attack treated with such contempt as it has been in this series. The punishment handed over to them in the last few days has not only been clinical but also endless.

Responsible for their misery has been none other than Younis Khan who in this series has become a statistician’s delight.

His partners have been no less instrumental in making the Aussie bowlers look so ordinary and unimpressive. Be it Mitchell Johnson, Peter Siddle, Mitchell Starc or spinner Nathan Lyon, they have all had their full share of flogging and frustration as runs have flowed from the blades of the Pakistan batsmen.

If I was a statistician I would wish the game to go on and on forever, such is the delight of watching one record vanish after another. It reminds me of a remark made by a former England captain Ted Dexter who famously said, “Endless cricket, like endless anything else, simply grinds you down.”

This has been really the case as Younis continued from where he began to grind Michael Clarke’s men down to the ground in, not only submission, but also in a kind of surrender which many before him handed them over.

Such is the domination of Pakistan batsmen so far in this series that seven centuries have been made in the last three innings for Pakistan compared to only six in the last ten years against them.

Younis’ three hundreds in a row which includes a glorious double century, his fifth in all, has now certainly put him on a higher pedestal amongst the batting greats who have succeeded in making an attack look so ordinary.

In the process of his devastating form with the bat he has passed not one but many landmarks to be ranked amongst the best Pakistani batsmen in history. He is also now amongst the three Pakistan players who have made over 8,000 runs in Test cricket. Though not yet near Javed Miandad’s tally of runs (8,832) and Inzamam-ul-Haq’s (8,829) he certainly has the potential to get nearer if fitness and form do not betray his monumental progress to be amongst those who have before him left a legacy for others to follow.

“I was determined to do well and I am very pleased that in the course of my innings here I have achieved a few landmarks,” declared Younis at the end of the day.

Pakistan, I feel, having made a mammoth first innings score has batted the Australians out of this Test. Only a miracle could turn the tide for Clarke’s men. The pitch, though placid in nature, showed signs of turn and bounce by the time the game ended on Friday and Australia can only pray that they are not once again at the mercy of spin twins Zulfiqar Babar and Yasir Shah who are surely aiming for another rich haul here.

Published in Dawn, November 1st, 2014

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