What's new

Usman Khawaja and Tim Paine take Australia to nail-biting draw in first Test against Pakistan

Not out. Desperation by Pak. It was always going to be umpires call at best.
 
Lol. Impact is barely outside. Wow, this umpiring is horrible. How can I sign up for that job?
 
Looks like Haris has to do everything himself. Bat well, bowl well. Might as well make him keep when he is not bowling. Surely he wont do worse than the potato hopping behind the stumps.
 
Lol. Impact is barely outside. Wow, this umpiring is horrible. How can I sign up?

It was closer then it looked.
At first sight it looked like it hit well outside the off stump.
9/10 umpires would have given that not out.
 
This is frustrating and a bit unbelievable. 5th day and Aussies are only 3 down for 213 when you expected them to barely reach 150 all out.
 
Wicket is too slow and hence spin is slow.
Also little things not going our way in that session.

Still, one wicket can easily lead to a collapse.
 
Sarfaraz's tactics again a bit unbelievable . . Few questions:

1. How has hafeez not bowled with 2 lefties on the crease?
2. Yasir definitely had more control over the wicket and also produced a wicket . . yet he bowled around the wicket for majority of the session
3. What's with giving Aus easy singles . . they will never chase this score down! squeeze them!! Get some control . .
 
I have not been following this match much just espncricinfo with two lefties batting how come Hafeez has not been bowled again in this innings he bowled 2 overs at the start then has not bowled at all is he injured?
 
Sarfaraz's tactics again a bit unbelievable . . Few questions:

1. How has hafeez not bowled with 2 lefties on the crease?

Saint Sarfaraz is sacrificing this test for the greater cause of ending Hafeez's career.
 
It was closer then it looked.
At first sight it looked like it hit well outside the off stump.
9/10 umpires would have given that not out.

I saw it a bit different on first sight. It looked like crashing into the stumps. The guy didn’t play a shot, so I didn’t care about the pitching. When it looks like crashing into middle, it’s mostly like OUT. Impact was the only doubtful one. Notice doubtful. Not surely outside. Not surely inside. While everything else is satisfied. I thought impact in line was around adjacent to off-stump with a mark on 4th stump channel.
 
Last edited:
Lol. This is an Australian team with Justin Langer as their batting coach. These guys don't just turn up to lose, they would have learnt something from the 2014 series and unlike Pakistan they will not be marked two times in a row in the subcontinent

Yasir Shahs performance is a perfect example of why our latest players have very short peaks. You would have felt and expected that someone who got mauled by the Australian batsmen in Australia would have learnt something by bowling to those players but clearly not.

Australia can easily claim moral victory escaping with a draw here.
 
That missed review is infuriating honestly. Still the game is ours to lose. One wicket and the rest will follow within 20 overs I reckon. New ball will be due soon as well.
 
Spinners have bowled poorly, easy singles and runs given away so no pressure built. Less said about the rubbish captaincy the better.
 
Many such matches have ended in a session after session of docile cricket.
 
This is the session. Australia lost 5 wickets in the first innings in the 2nd session after not losing a wicket in the 1st. Could be the same story here too. The only thing I'm worried is the new ball. If Sarfraz takes the new ball, we could go another session without taking a wicket. New ball hasn't worked at all this entire test match. No reason why it would do so now. This old ball is reversing and spinning. Pakistan just hasn't applied the pressure enough.
 
Yasir has been instrumental in winning test matches in UAE.he is not taking wickets and we are not winning.bilal asif bowled well in first innings but i think aussies have worked him out.
Wahab ? I guess get a third grade bowler from aussie grade team and he will still bowl better than him.
Cant swing,lost pace wth is he doing in the team??
 
Yasir Shahs performance is a perfect example of why our latest players have very short peaks.

Interesting. Make a thread on this. Pakistani players have shown the tendency of having short peaks recently.
 
If Australia actually had 2 of renshaw, handscomb, maxwell, instead of marshes and labuschagne, they would have actually had a chance to win this game.
 
It's okay guys it's probably last pair who can bat in these conditions. We surely gonna get one of these two And then Aussies will fall apart. No need to worry.
 
Must say, Sarfraz has gotten exposed badly over the last month or so. Not looking good.

Terrible stuff with regards to not taking that review.

Of course, there are a lot of other things as well but this specifically is the reason things are the way they are at that moment. One wicket would've lead to a collapse for sure.
 
Give Hafeez a 10 over spell after lunch against the 2 left handers, and give an attacking field. Bowl Haris at the other end he looks the most threatening spinner.
 
Wow even players who cant play spin like Khawaja,Head are scoring runs against us.What is happening to our cricket?
 
I saw it a bit different on first sight. It looked like crashing into the stumps. The guy didn’t play a shot, so I didn’t care about the pitching. When it looks like crashing into middle, it’s mostly like OUT. Impact was the only doubtful one. Notice doubtful. Not surely outside. Not surely inside. While everything else is satisfied. I thought impact in line was around adjacent to off-stump with a mark on 4th stump channel.

I don’t think anyone had any doubt that he played a shot.
After that the impact was crucial.
At first sight it looked like it hit way outside off stump, after replays it looked closer.

Just looking at it in real time it looked not out and if it was a Pakistany batsman who was given out to that I would be screaming and I suspect many on this board would be too.
 
Sarfaraz's tactics again a bit unbelievable . . Few questions:

1. How has hafeez not bowled with 2 lefties on the crease?
2. Yasir definitely had more control over the wicket and also produced a wicket . . yet he bowled around the wicket for majority of the session
3. What's with giving Aus easy singles . . they will never chase this score down! squeeze them!! Get some control . .

And Hafeez does the trick!
 
Good captaincy from Saifi.

On a side note, is it just me or did Hafeez chuck that?
 
Haris bowling witht he new ball?!?!? Is he your best bet to get a wicket with the new ball?
 
Why the hell do the ICC keep allowing Mohammad Hafeez to bowl ? He is a serial offender, he should be banned for life.

By the way, good century by Khawaja here, didn't think he had it in him to improve against spin. Fair play.
 
Get Abbas back on while new ball is still hard.

The experiment with hafeez has got a wicket but get him off now.
 
Well played, Khawaja. Tremendous 100. Well played Travis Head too, very gritty innings. Dig in, Labuschagne... best luck.
 
Well played by Khawaja, fantastic innings under extreme pressure and given the past history...Mrs Khawaja overcome by emotions in the stands and sheds a few tears...
 
Our spinners are totally hopeless. Its 5th day after launch still no threatening from spinners
 
Sarfraz is so defensive!!!!! Looks like he is trying to save the test.
Bring back Abbas instead of Hafeez who can never get 3-4 wickets in an innings
 
Paine must be one of the luckiest blokes ever to have played cricket. Captaining Australia of all teams in test matches. He doesn't seem to be a good Wk either from what I've seen. And to make it even worse... at par with Kohli as Captain.
 
Just shows what getting the first wicket can do...suddenly the variotions and the magic returns to Yasir...
 
Hopefully Yasir will knock over Paine soon, i think if khawaja goes then panic will really set in for Australia.
 
Need another 2 wickets in this session, dont want to be going into the last session with these two at the crease.
 
Time for Paine to play a captain's knock. He is a good player of spin, if they survive until tea, Australia has a good chance of drawing this game
 
So was the 1st Innings reality of Bilal or 2nd?
Seems like he's one of those players who play their first innings and take cricketing world by storm and then they get found out / exposed.
 
Have to admit, this is fantastic resistance by the Aussies. Just not letting Pakistan roll over them. Having to work for every wicket!
 
Fully expect Pakistan to finish this off at some point...but from an Australian POV, this must be frustrating.

At the moment, they have managed to bat around 95 overs in the second innings...if they managed to show a little more application in the 1st innings, they may not be staring down the barrel - and their 2nd innings batting has shown that it was possible, and they are capable.
 
Also, the Marsh brothers. I thought their 'heritage' was enough to prove that they know what it takes to play for Australia. Might want to revisit that now.
 
This dubai wicket is very unusual. By this time this wicket is like a spitting cobra so very surprised at how it's behaved
 
Brave fightback by Australia. But it may take one more wicket for Pakistan to finish it off
 
Australia has played well in this innings especially usman who is playing a phenomenal knock.kudos to him.But this sarfraz garbage awful cricketer should be kicked out as soon as possible.Absolute garbage in every department
 
So was the 1st Innings reality of Bilal or 2nd?
Seems like he's one of those players who play their first innings and take cricketing world by storm and then they get found out / exposed.

He also has a fast 100 in domestic cricket :afridi
 
In the last month or so the wickets in UAE have behaved very unusually.

I don't think any UAE wicket behave like spitting Cobra. It just gets lower & slower - most teams get out in UAE from boredom more than anything else :) - here Aussies have decided to give a try on their patience & helped by the Captaincy of fielding side as well. Worst place to play Test cricket & the Captaincy is atrocious........ even on roads if you can't take more than 2 wickets (that too of 2 debutantes) in 50+ overs on last day of a Test defending 450+, can't complain much on wicket either.

Still, 40 overs left & PAK might finish the tail as there is not much depth in Aussie tail - hope then pankhwa base don't come back here to put me in place.
 
Is Bilal going to be a one innings wonder? Wicketless so far.

You don't expect that sort of bowling innings every time. He is bowling well, but Offies are defensive bowler, one needs to make sure that runs are choked & singles are stopped for Offies to be successful. Here a left-right pair batting & every single means he has to change bowling line & delivery side, which is not good for better control.
 
If Asif bowls in the right area, no reason why he wont get them.out
 
Is this 2 players survive before tea Australia can win this test

Won't win, in UAE you don't survive long if you try to score at 3/over; but they can save this Test indeed, which will be as good as win in a 2 Test series. You don't know if Sarfraz will win the toss at Abu Dhabi :)
 
With nothing much happening from the pitch, I believe Wahab is the key. He's specially in the team for dishing out fast spells. Sarfraz should just ask Wahab to let himself lose, go full throttle and don't worry about the runs.

Wahab in years gone by, has proved to break partnerships in the UAE.
 
Back
Top