Australia draw the first Test - The great Dubai escape!

[Nikhil_cric]

How did Pakistan let this Australian team(no Smith/Warner/Hazlewood) get away with a draw in a UAE test even after winning the toss?

Shocking performance

 

[Proactive_]

350+ on any Asian Day 5 track is unreal in itself, and Australia doing it without their two best batsmen makes it even more special. Great match.

 

[sensible-indian-fan]

Aus are improving in Asia.

If not for Rahul and Pujara in Bangalore, they would hav gone 2-0 up and even won the series exerting psychological pressure.

This is a weak Aus team (no Smith) but they hav prepared well and are willing to fight even though their skillets aren't great.

Pak test team is crap though.

They need to plug in the holes. First start off by removing the captain.

2nd test will be a cracker. Pak favourites but Aus can spring a surprise.

 

[Nikhil_cric]

Aus are improving in Asia.

If not for Rahul and Pujara in Bangalore, they would hav gone 2-0 up and even won the series exerting psychological pressure.

This is a weak Aus team (no Smith) but they hav prepared well and are willing to fight even though their skillets aren't great.

Pak test team is crap though.

They need to plug in the holes. First start off by removing the captain.

2nd test will be a cracker. Pak favourites but Aus can spring a surprise.

And credit to Australia for gritting it out. But surely you must bowl out an opponent in 140 overs in 4th innings in Asia? I think Wahab's lack of contribution hurt PAK a lot here.

 

[Buffet]

Fantastic effort from Aus. Pakistan was not ruthless enough despite winning the toss and putting big score. I would like to see Aus winning the toss next time and put a big score. That will test Pakistan.

 

[gani999]

But still. Can't confirm but this is apparently the best performance in a 4th innings in Asia to draw a test match since 1964. To let one of the weakest australian teams of all time to get away with that sort of record is shocking.

Weakest team maybe, but the Aussie captain is made of iron. He was determined and Pakistan could do nothing about it.

 

[Usman Chadda]

Fantastic effort from Aus. Pakistan was not ruthless enough despite winning the toss and putting big score. I would like to see Aus winning the toss next time and put a big score. That will test Pakistan.

It doesn’t take much to test Pakistan nowadays. Hint of pressure and they will surrender in a second

 

[gani999]

Fantastic effort from Aus. Pakistan was not ruthless enough despite winning the toss and putting big score. I would like to see Aus winning the toss next time and put a big score. That will test Pakistan.

Aus must play Agar in the next test. I'd drop Labuschagne for him.
There's no way they are going to win if they don't have a spinner to back up Lyon.

 

[Nikhil_cric]

Weakest team maybe, but the Aussie captain is made of iron. He was determined and Pakistan could do nothing about it.

Which again is a surprise. Usman khawaja battling out 300 balls in a test match and Tim Paine, who was about t give up cricket for a corporate job, comes back as captain and plays the knock of his life. What magic wand is Justin Langer using?

 

[Nikhil_cric]

Aus must play Agar in the next test. I'd drop Labuschagne for him.
There's no way they are going to win if they don't have a spinner to back up Lyon.

Agar in for holland if at all. Renshaw also needs to be in the lineup.

 

[gani999]

Agar in for holland if at all. Renshaw also needs to be in the lineup.

Agar can also be useful with the bat. He came in at no 8 and scored a 90 something in an Ashes test once.

 

[Buffet]

It doesn’t take much to test Pakistan nowadays. Hint of pressure and they will surrender in a second

I did see some portion of match, I think Captanicy from Sarf was not good. He could have been a bit more ruthless. I could have never imagined Aus batting 140 overs without their two best batsmen in Asia on 4th inning. Credit to Aus.

 

[Buffet]

Aus must play Agar in the next test. I'd drop Labuschagne for him.
There's no way they are going to win if they don't have a spinner to back up Lyon.

Yah, They need to have proper support for Lyon. It will also help if Aus wins the toss.

 

[BlackShadow]

People have unreasonably high expectations from Pakistan. Yes this a ban hit Australia that lost the toss, but Pakistan are ranked #7 or 8 for a reason. The bowling attack is toothless and relies entirely on Yasir.

If Yasir gets it right the next match, Pakistan will absolutely destroy Australia, like it is expected.

 

[AAli98]

Tw poor teams. Cant remember a worse Aus team. Pak have always had pathhetic batters but Cant remember a worse pak bowling lineup. Can u imagine what ind/slanka/eng/bang/afgans spinners would of done to this aus lineup ona 5th day...

 

[Swashbuckler]

Pakistanis mustn't lose hope, this Aussie team has lots of grit. The fight they showed in the 2017 India tour, especially the Ranchi test which they drew stonewalling on day 5 against Ashwin and Jadeja shows that among modern day teams they are the best in battling for draws. More than slamming Pak bowlers, need to give credit to the Aussie ecosystem which has made great strides in the mental department. Pak should still be favorites in the next test, great great game this.

 

[Josh]

Bad captaincy from Sarfaraz. Although Pakistan made good runs but run rate cost them this match. Should have played with 3.5 run rate in first innings. Bad runnate and bad captaincy

 

[Nikhil_cric]

Bad captaincy from Sarfaraz. Although Pakistan made good runs but run rate cost them this match. Should have played with 3.5 run rate in first innings. Bad runnate and bad captaincy

Scoring at that rate consistently is very hard on these wickets.

 

[sensible-indian-fan]

And credit to Australia for gritting it out. But surely you must bowl out an opponent in 140 overs in 4th innings in Asia? I think Wahab's lack of contribution hurt PAK a lot here.

Yes it was a poor performance.

Screw ups happen.

Ashwin & Jaddu couldn't close out Ranchi 2017 against Aus and Delhi 2017 against SL.

The problem with Pakistan is that these screw ups are becoming the norm.

0-2 against SL.

Drawing this test which they should have honestly won.

 

[JaDed]

Congratulations to Aussies , well deserved draw.

 

[Itachi]

Just a bad day in office for Pakistan. I wish best for team Pakistan and Australia too.

Australia deserves the credit. Good work.

 

[ManFan]

What a fine effort by Australia and particularly by Usman K.

The problem for Pakistan was that they lost the match during Day 2 when for some reason, they lost their wickets for less than 100 after two centuries developing a solid platform. Not to mention, scoring some 150 odd runs in 2 sessions.

The next Test is do or die for Sarfraz. Day by day, hour by hour, his batting, keeping, and captaincy are coming under scrutiny.

The great question lies in: who’s next?

 

[Chrish]

Seriously impressive display from Australia. Well done

 

[Lion]

Well I wouldn't say pathetic.. the batting stood up..

However captaincy is another matter..I feel in general test captains are just not attacking enough across all test teams in this era.....not enough close in fielders or pressure put on batsmen

 

[RamLakhan]

The pitches have improved a lot in India in the last few years, there is something for everyone if you play good cricket unlike these dead wickets in UAE.

People can't see that Indian pacers have out-performed opponent pacers (including SENA pacers) on Indian pitches be it 1st innings, 2nd innings, 3rd innings or 4th innings (Rank turners - Chennai, Nagpur, dead tracks, super-flats, better places for seamers like Mohali/Dharmashala, etc). They have learnt the art of bowling on Indian pitches (pacers). Maybe they may perform slightly lesser on SENA countries compared to their bowlers (as they have acclimatized the conditions better, but still they can compete to the fullest!).

So Indian team are true giants at home without necessarily doctoring the pitch (turning pitch, as such!) In fact they lost some matches when the pitch was too turning (Test match against Australia and a World T20 against NZ) So it is ridiculous when people on PP say that India produce Rank Turners to win matches! India win the matches when the pitch doesn't go to the extreme (extreme turning, extreme movement, extreme pace, etc) That's why England and South Africa gave extreme conditions to test Indians! If they were proper normal pitches then Indian batsmen (led by Kohli) and bowlers (improved bowlers) will have better chance of beating the opponents!

India wins at home not necessarily because of just spinners (they are good) it is because of all-round effort, and of late PACERS have contributed significantly in this which I have been pointing out several times!

 

[Justcrazy]

Three players are past prime and the more Pakistan carry them the more they will dent pakistan.

Azhar Ali
Sarfaraz Ahmed
Yasir Shah.

 

[Bhaag Viru Bhaag]

If they can compete like this in Asia with their D team imagine what will they do to us in Australia later this year?

 

[Napa]

2nd test will be a cracker. Pak favourites but Aus can spring a surprise.

I think a lot will depend upon who wins the toss. Pakistani pacers do not trouble Australian batsmen, so if Australia get to bat first they could put up large total.

 

[Napa]

If they can compete like this in Asia with their D team imagine what will they do to us in Australia later this year?

I may be wrong but I think Smith and Warner still won't be eligible to play with India tours. Hazelwood and Cummins will be back though.

 

[moghul]

OK, its hard to remove Sarfraz from ODI, as the WC is around the corner, but why is he still in test team ?

 

[sensible-indian-fan]

I think a lot will depend upon who wins the toss. Pakistani pacers do not trouble Australian batsmen, so if Australia get to bat first they could put up large total.

Yes, winning the toss can give Aus a huge boost.

 

[ManFan]

This reminds me of Gilchrist declaring to set England a target of 300 on Day 5 at Headingly in 2001.

The Aussies eventually lost due to Mark Butcher playing his greatest ever knock.

But there are always two sides in hindsight.

The UAE requires grinding but not to the point where you score 130 in 2 sessions with a 205 opening partnership on Day 1.

 

[Napa]

Which again is a surprise. Usman khawaja battling out 300 balls in a test match and Tim Paine, who was about t give up cricket for a corporate job, comes back as captain and plays the knock of his life. What magic wand is Justin Langer using?

Australians fight to the end. Never count them out. In fact, if they win the toss in the next game, they have a fair chance of winning it all.

 

[TeamPak95]

Haven't seen the highlights yet, seemed to have been riveting test match cricket towards the end. Although I'll be honest, I expected Pakistan to win comfortably so I'm a bit salty here buuut at least they didn't seem to have folded in any way, shape or form compared to their Asia Cup performances. Kudos to Khawaja, Paine and Australia for gutsing out the draw.

 

[CricketDon]

Pakistan as a test side is on the rapid decline and is finished.

 

[ManFan]

Pakistan as a test side is on the rapid decline and is finished.

Easily fixable.

The problems (and my main man [MENTION=79064]MMHS[/MENTION] will explain them in greater detail)...

1). 5/7 batsmen and 3/4 bowlers (Abbas is 28, soon to be 29) are 30+!

2). The Captain (the model of the team) is overweight, non-performing, obnoxious on the field, and not brave. The biggest problem is that there SEEMS to be a lack of options but the dressing room will evaluate that by the end of the series.

3.) Spinners such as Gohar, Raza, Asghar, Irfan (leggie), Mir have been ignored due to the inability of a SA coach to understand how spin operates in Asia.

 

[BaankeJi]

Yes it was a poor performance.

Screw ups happen.

Ashwin & Jaddu couldn't close out Ranchi 2017 against Aus and Delhi 2017 against SL.

The problem with Pakistan is that these screw ups are becoming the norm.

0-2 against SL.

Drawing this test which they should have honestly won.

Drop Mickey.

 

[leg-side-flick]

If they can compete like this in Asia with their D team imagine what will they do to us in Australia later this year?

Same thing that England did.....

 

[Chief Destroyer]

Border must be proud. Especially of Khawaja. Leftie grinding it out like he used to.

Langer has prepared his team well.

 

[Chief Destroyer]

Aus are improving in Asia.

If not for Rahul and Pujara in Bangalore, they would hav gone 2-0 up and even won the series exerting psychological pressure.

This is a weak Aus team (no Smith) but they hav prepared well and are willing to fight even though their skillets aren't great.

Pak test team is crap though.

They need to plug in the holes. First start off by removing the captain.

2nd test will be a cracker. Pak favourites but Aus can spring a surprise.

Don't think they have the bowling attack otherwise they could. Starc, Hazlewood, Lyon, O Keefe should be their attack but their selection has been as stupid as Pakistan's.

 

[Mp812]

Easily fixable.

The problems (and
3.) Spinners such as Gohar, Raza, Asghar, Irfan (leggie), Mir have been ignored due to the inability of a SA coach to understand how spin operates in Asia.

Micky not done homework

 

[Hasan123]

Credit to Australia. Where are y'all who were predicting victory after 1st innings? I always said don't underestimate Australia. It is not the most talanted team but what they are is mentally and most resilant. Don't think many teams would have survived this situation.

 

[Ab Fan]

A humiliation of lifetime for Pakistan.

This is absolute embarrasment. It is something that will live with Pakistan for many many years , decades and even centuries. This Pakistan team will be smashed by even Zimbabwe in UAE tests.

 

[hadi123]

Australia seem to be improving. Imagine if Smith was playing. Credit to Australia. Disappointed but what a Test match. To think some people want 4 day Tests. I guess this shows why even in Test cricket, run rate is important in the 1st innings. Our game plan was to bat them out of the game, I think we could have scored a quick better, therefore in turn having more time to bowl at them. I hope we can learn from this.

 

[mastersaan10]

Well in second innings I don't know what was happening. You have a lead of 280 and all your top 5 bats at 40 Sr. Like why even declare then?

 

[princeuk]

How dynamics have changed for team australia, 10 years ago they would never have lauded a draw, these days a draw is treated like a win. How things can change dramatically.

 

[RamLakhan]

How dynamics have changed for team australia, 10 years ago they would never have lauded a draw, these days a draw is treated like a win. How things can change dramatically.

Still Australia are overall (all time) best team of world. Even if they are not the best currently, they will still have their historic dominance factor in their game which can cause problems to teams (like what they did in India last time!) Remember they are still world champions in ODI format which is very prestigious and usually this dictates the form of a team! The close runners/competitors for them are West Indies (in the past) and South African (currently) who can play well in all conditions. These two teams for some period overtook Australia, but its Australia who remained consistently dominant throughout the history of cricket! England and India are passionate cricket teams (one created it and the other marketed it extensively!) who have their moments & home-dominance! Pakistan & NZ have that X-factor (natural talent & unpredictability) which can surprise opponents!

 

[Nikhil_cric]

Don't think they have the bowling attack otherwise they could. Starc, Hazlewood, Lyon, O Keefe should be their attack but their selection has been as stupid as Pakistan's.

They would have played that attack if they had Hazlewood or O'Keefe(whose career is finished). Tremain shouldve been selected in the squad i suppose. It's the batters they have selected that is really questionable. Maxwell and Burns should have been there ahead of Labuschagne and one of the Marshes.

 

[Braveheart]

350+ on any Asian Day 5 track is unreal in itself, and Australia doing it without their two best batsmen makes it even more special. Great match.

This was disappointing the end as I feel with another 10 overs, Pakistan would have won it.
However, this reminded me of a game between SA and India whereby the great escape was achieved by India, having been odds on favourites to win.
India set SA a similar fourth innings total of 458 and SA were 8 runs short of victory before time ran out.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/25485681

 

[MP2011]

This was disappointing the end as I feel with another 10 overs, Pakistan would have won it.
However, this reminded me of a game between SA and India whereby the great escape was achieved by India, having been odds on favourites to win.
India set SA a similar fourth innings total of 458 and SA were 8 runs short of victory before time ran out.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/25485681

That was an epic choke job by Steyn and his partner (was that Faf?) India did all it could to lose that test. Dhoni was similarly clueless on day 5 of that Jo'burg test like Sarfaraz was yesterday.

 

[gani999]

Same thing that England did.....

I think we will play better in Australia than we did in England. Barring Kohli, our batting failed us miserably there. With Shaw and Vihari now in the lineup and with Pant and KL hopefully coming good, our batting is likely to be much better in Australia.

 

[princeuk]

Lets face it Pakistan have blown it, Now i fear for the rest of the series. The aussies are cock a hoop about this and will not hurt their confidence one bit. Pakistan won 3-0 last time in UAE, but not this time.

 

[Savak]

That was an epic choke job by Steyn and his partner (was that Faf?) India did all it could to lose that test. Dhoni was similarly clueless on day 5 of that Jo'burg test like Sarfaraz was yesterday.

To be honest, Dhoni with his captaincy saved India that match. This is how Dhoni's captaincy has evolved to modern times and is something which is missing in Pakistan Cricket Captains and Team think tanks.

South Africa were well on course to winning that game and had a very manageable target to achieve going into the tea session. Dhoni then instructed his pace bowlers to bowl defensively by bowling wide outside the offstump with fielders on the offside and on the boundary and all of a sudden the boundaries were protected and only singles were given and South African's got choked and once they lost 2 quick wickets they decided to abandon the run chase.

Dhoni with his captaincy and the Indian bowlers with their defensive tactics ended up saving the test match from India when a loss looked imminent. Dhoni then later criticized his bowlers for their bowling in the first two sessions and said they made the mistake of over attacking and allowing the South African batsmen to score at a high run rate and giving them confidence that they could chase this target.

Do our captains and team management have the ability to think this deep?

 

[Savak]

People are being too harsh on the Pakistani bowlers. The pitch had flattened considerably on Day 4 and 5 and it made it easier for Khawaja and Head to defend. Bilal Asif got more pace and bounce out of the wicket on Day 3 and even Holland and Lyon picked up 3 quick wickets due to some quick spin and bounce from the wicket. But on Day 4 and 5, the track had slowed down considerably and the bounce had more or less evaporated. Sure Sarfaraz did not help his cause with his defensive captaincy when he should have attacked and having attacking fields would have made things easier for the bowlers.

But had Khawaja, Head and Paine been batting on a Day 5 ran turnover in India or Sri Lanka, they would not have been able to survive.

If anything PCB needs to express serious displeasure with the UAE curators for producing such ordinary pitches which don't give anything to the spin bowlers on Day 4 and Day 5.