Heavy defeat looms as Pakistan succumb to Starc’s reverse swing show

Published March 15, 2022
PAKISTAN opener Abdullah Shafique is run out by Australia’s Mitchell Swepson (not pictured) as wicket-keeper Alex Carey and Marnus Labuschagne look on during the second Test at the National Stadium on Monday.—AFP
PAKISTAN opener Abdullah Shafique is run out by Australia’s Mitchell Swepson (not pictured) as wicket-keeper Alex Carey and Marnus Labuschagne look on during the second Test at the National Stadium on Monday.—AFP

KARACHI: Reverse swing was at play yet again at the National Stadium on Monday, and unlike Pakistan, Australia made hay of it.

Nearly 20 overs into Pakistan’s first innings, the red cherry was rough enough from one side and slick enough from the other to start reversing — slightly earlier than the trend observed on the first two days of this Test.

Australia’s first innings total of 556 runs and the presence of one of the best exponents of reverse swing, Mitchell Starc, in their ranks, turned out to be just too much for Pakistan.

Starc went on to take three wickets as Pakistan were bundled out for 148 in less than two sessions before Australia decided to bat again in what looked like an attempt to humiliate the hosts and give rest to their bowlers in the taxing, hot weather.

Australia will start the fourth day at 81-1, leading by 489 runs, when first innings centurion Usman Khawaja (35 not out) and Marnus Labuschagne (37 not out) walk out on the crease on Tuesday morning.

“Both teams have been able to achieve that reverse swing,” Starc said in an online press conference after the end of the day’s play.

“I think the way our batters applied themselves in the first two days, full credit to them to set a massive total.”

Pakistan’s batters, in contrast to Australia’s, didn’t apply themselves even nearly as well.

Taking nothing away from Starc’s brilliant show of extracting movement off the surface and through the air, Pakistan could have avoided the eventual melt down had they not started loosely, that too when the ball was not reversing.

Opener Abdullah Shafique, who looked in good touch when he hit an exquisite on-drive off Australian skipper Pat Cummins, was run out by debutant leg-spinner Mitchell Swepson as he tried to scramble for a single 13 overs into the innings.

In the first over after lunch, Pakistan’s attempt to take veteran off-spinner Nathan Lyon to the cleaners backfired when opener Imam-ul-Haq holed the last ball of the over to Cummins at long-on after Azhar Ali had danced down to the pitch of the ball to clear the long-off boundary for six.

Azhar then became Starc’s first prey as the ball started to reverse but the veteran of 92 Tests could have stayed for longer had he not flirted with one that was clearly swinging away from the off-stump before it ended up in Cameron Green’s safe hands in the slip cordon.

In came Fawad Alam — with a small crowd at the NSK chanting his name as he walked towards the square — only to fall victim to a full, in-swinging delivery by Starc, as the lanky left-armer got on a hat-trick.

With Pakistan reeling at 60-4, Pakistan skipper Babar Azam and his deputy Mohammad Rizwan were at the crease and the latter had no answers to the questions Starc and Cummins asked him with the ball.

The wicket-keeper/batter departed after a bit more than five overs in the middle when Cummins undid him with one that swung in before angling out just to get enough of the outside edge for Rizwan’s Australian counterpart Alex Carey to take an easy catch.

In the next over, it was all-rounder Green’s turn to join the party as he came round the wicket to trap left-hander Faheem Ashraf lbw.

Starc got his third wicket with a similar delivery against the right-handed Sajid Khan with one of the cracks on the depleting surface coming into play.

Hasan Ali became a victim of Labuschagne’s decent fielding effort before Babar, who looked like the only Pakistan batter competent enough to negotiate with the given conditions, eventually lost his cool and gifted Swepson his maiden Test wicket, as he attempted a big hit.

Swepson got his second when Shaheen Shah Afridi was hit on his foot right in front of the stumps after combining for 30 runs for the tenth wicket with Nauman Ali to register Pakistan’s best partnership in the innings.

Pakistan’s batting coach Mohammad Yousuf admitted the home side had given Australia a sniff when Abdullah was run out.

The former batting maestro suggested the Australian pacers’ bowling performance was similar to many of those produced by Pakistan fast bowling legends like Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Shoaib Akhtar in their heyday.

“They [Australia] got some momentum after the run-out, and using their experience they bowled in the right areas,” said Yousuf.

“We witnessed such spells in the past when Wasim, Vicky and Shoaib used to create problems for big sides.”

Yousuf said Australia had a big advantage with 500-plus runs on the board — adding 51 runs in ten overs before declaring on the third day’s morning — and that the visitors emulated their dominance with the ball.

“When a team puts up such a big total on a pitch that is favourable for reverse swing and turn for spinners, it’s normal for the team batting second to struggle, no matter how long the batting line-up is,” said the 47-year-old.

Pakistan will have a massive total to chase whenever Australia decide to declare on the fourth day and if the hosts fail to do so, a heavy loss will be very difficult to avoid.

Cummins’ men on the other hand, will look to make history, not having won an away series in the last five years, on their historic tour to Pakis­tan after more than two decades.

Scoreboard

AUSTRALIA (1st Innings, overnight 505-8): D. Warner c Rizwan b Faheem 36 Usman Khawaja b Sajid 160 M. Labuschagne run out 0 S. Smith c Faheem b Hasan 72 N. Lyon b Faheem 38 T. Head lbw b Sajid 23 C. Green b Nauman 28 A. Carey b Babar 93 M. Starc c Azhar b Shaheen 28 P. Cummins not out 34 M. Swepson not out 15 EXTRAS (B-10, LB-7, NB-7, W-5) 29 TOTAL: (for nine wkts decl, 189 overs) 556 FALL OF WICKETS: 1-82 (Warner), 2-91 (Labuschagne), 3-250 (Smith), 4-304 (Lyon), 5-347 (Head), 6-360 (Khawaja), 7-405 (Green), 8-503 (Carey), 9-505 (Starc) BOWLING (to-date): Shaheen 32-8-95-1 (4nb); Hasan 25-7-71-1 (2nb); Faheem 21-4-55-2; Sajid 57-10-167-2 (3w); Nauman 48-6-134-1 (2w); Babar 4-0-7-1; Azhar 2-0-10-0 (1nb)

PAKISTAN (1st Innings): Abdullah Shafique run out 13 Imam-ul-Haq c Cummins b Lyon 20 Azhar Ali c Green b Starc 14 Babar Azam c Khawaja b Swepson 36 Fawad Alam lbw b Starc 0 Mohammad Rizwan c Carey b Cummins 6 Faheem Ashraf lbw b Green 4 Sajid Khan c Carey b Starc 5 Hasan Ali run out 0 Nauman Ali not out 20 Shaheen Shah Afridi lbw b Swepson 19 EXTRAS (B-6, LB-2, NB-3) 11 TOTAL (all out, 53 overs) 148 FALL OF WICKETS: 1-26 (Abdullah), 2-45 (Imam), 3-60 (Azhar), 4-60 (Fawad), 5-76 (Rizwan), 6-81 (Faheem), 7-97 (Sajid), 8-102 (Hasan), 9-118 (Babar), 10-148 (Shaheen) BOWLING: Starc 13-5-29-3 (2nb); Cummins 13-2-39-1; Lyon 9-5-13-1; Swepson 9-1-32-2; Green 8-1-23-1 (1nb); Labuschagne 1-0-4-0 AUSTRALIA (2nd Innings): Usman Khawaja not out 35 D. Warner c Fawad b Hasan 7 M. Labuschagne not out 37 EXTRAS (B-2) 2 TOTAL (for one wkt, 17 overs) 81 FALL OF WICKET: 1-20 (Warner) BOWLING (to-date) Shaheen 4-0-14-0; Hasan 4-0-14-1; Sajid 5-0-31-0; Faheem 3-0-13-0; Nauman 1-0-7-0

Published in Dawn, March 15th, 2022

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