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

What if it was run out on the no-ball and out on the last ball!!!!
 
139 overs and ''best bowling attack in world" could get only 8 wickets on a 5th day track on home ground...tsk tsk..tough days ahead for all batting lineups in the world :))
 
Monumental effort from Khawaja, Head and Paine. They were superb. Pakistan's bowling was very ordinary and the captaincy extremely shoddy. I don't think Pakistan were short on overs. 140 overs are more than enough. But Sarfraz needs to take a long hard look at himself at how he captained in this Test match especially the 1st session today.
 
Great effort from Australia.
Full credit to the young Aussie side.
To Pakistan I would say think again what players you wants to play in UAE.
 
Not to take anything from Australia but those mocking the Pakistani bowling attack need to acknowledge that the pitch had seriously flattened. To pick up 8 wickets on that graveyard was nothing short of miracle.

If anything Sarfaraz captaincy and Wahabs non impact need to be blamed
 
What a fight back!!! These type of draws are more damaging for the side in advantage - had AUS finished the day 5 down, I am sure PAK would have been much happier.
 
Savak said:
Not to take anything from Australia but those mocking the Pakistani bowling attack need to acknowledge that the pitch had seriously flattened. To pick up 8 wickets on that graveyard was nothing short of miracle.

If anything Sarfaraz captaincy and Wahabs non impact need to be blamed
Click to expand...
Yeah true one had to just captain aggressively and other had to bowl in short bursts both of them were abysmal. If you can attack in last hour why not at 1st hour of the day lots of runs were on scoreboard. I think sarfraz deserves and wishes Anwar Ali and Nawaz in the team so he can only review there appeals
 
I hope they will now stop the talk about 4 day match rubbish. This is pure thriller
 
Savak said:
Not to take anything from Australia but those mocking the Pakistani bowling attack need to acknowledge that the pitch had seriously flattened. To pick up 8 wickets on that graveyard was nothing short of miracle.

If anything Sarfaraz captaincy and Wahabs non impact need to be blamed
Click to expand...

If the pitch really is that docile then I think the blame should completely fall on how the Pakistani batsmen batted in the first innings.

Good teams would easily have put up 500 runs in at least 30 overs less. Pakistani batsmen robbed the bowlers of 30 overs in this test and cost themselves a test win.
 
Just like I expected, this lower order of Aus is no pushover similar to Eng. Probably they are the two lower order heavy sides in the world. And well played Pak, just could not finish it. A great game. One of the greatest saving efforts of last 30-35 years, probably will go and join that famous Artherton draw vs Sa in 1997 in the last 30 years.
 
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We should move to day night test matches. Despite this being a thriller and my fav Haris Sohail scored a century i didnt like this match. Dead pitch, no crowd, no turn, no pace, nothing. Test cricket will die like this.
 
i think basics of test cricket in UAE is that you have to score 300 run in a day especially if you bat for the first 2 days.

Pakistan should have batted once, the 3rd innings we couldnt take advantage by batting quickly either.
 
Well played Australia ! Well played Pakistan too!
Felt Pakistan took a bit easy this morning assuming young Australian team would role over.
 
the_outsider said:
If the pitch really is that docile then I think the blame should completely fall on how the Pakistani batsmen batted in the first innings.

Good teams would easily have put up 500 runs in at least 30 overs less. Pakistani batsmen robbed the bowlers of 30 overs in this test and cost themselves a test win.
Click to expand...

The misbah ul haq effect. God knows when it will be eliminated from our batting culture
 
Kohli said:
Poor from Pakistan.

Wahab, Yasir and Sarfraz should take the blame.
Click to expand...

Yasir did the best he could. The pitch was seriously flat. The main culprits are Wahab and Sarfaraz
 
sully3 said:
im on about how England ran riots against India this summer which you seem to have forgot and how pakistan drew their series away in england and its only logical for them to plan to win in SA.
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Bro seriously, stop trying to do some banter with the Indians. They literally destroyed us twice in our own home most recently, we couldnt even reach the asia cup finals, lost to bangladesh and won against afghanistan only in the last over. The type of thrashing the Indian batsmen gave us, we should not indulge in banter with indians until the world cup starts.
 
Savak said:
The misbah ul haq effect. God knows when it will be eliminated from our batting culture
Click to expand...

That's absurb. Misbah is long gone. You have to stop blaming Misbah for the ineptitude of the current players.

Misbah won you the series 2-0 by huge margins.

This is not on Misbah at all and saying otherwise is just deflecting a serious problem that Pakistan cricket is facing today - that the batsmen are just not good enough.
 
It's in situations like this when you can tell the true cricket fans from useless posters (no offense for the latter but you know who you are).

The reality is, Bilal, Yasir and especially Abbas bowled like world class performers, no Aussie bowler came close to matching them and I doubt many if any on the planet would in such flat, dry, dead pitches. And yet one man trumped them all, a batsman who curbed his natural game, who stopped his usual fluid play and dug in...then dug in again....and dug in one last time. Khawaja played one of the truly great test innings. I think Smith's century in India was special, this may have been just as good.
 
Kohli said:
Poor from Pakistan.

Wahab, Yasir and Sarfraz should take the blame.
Click to expand...

the_outsider said:
That's absurb. Misbah is long gone. You have to stop blaming Misbah for the ineptitude of the current players.

Misbah won you the series 2-0 by huge margins.

This is not on Misbah at all and saying otherwise is just deflecting a serious problem that Pakistan cricket is facing today - that the batsmen are just not good enough.
Click to expand...

I am blaming misbah ul haq tuk tuk philosophy which he thoroughly ingrained during his 7 year tenure.

Yes problems are rooted in our domestic pitches and uae pitches as well but the 90's Pakistani batsmen batted flamboyantly on the same pitches
 
Kohli said:
Poor from Pakistan.

Wahab, Yasir and Sarfraz should take the blame.
Click to expand...

barah_admi said:
It's in situations like this when you can tell the true cricket fans from useless posters (no offense for the latter but you know who you are).

The reality is, Bilal, Yasir and especially Abbas bowled like world class performers, no Aussie bowler came close to matching them and I doubt many if any on the planet would in such flat, dry, dead pitches. And yet one man trumped them all, a batsman who curbed his natural game, who stopped his usual fluid play and dug in...then dug in again....and dug in one last time. Khawaja played one of the truly great test innings. I think Smith's century in India was special, this may have been just as good.
Click to expand...

The main culprits are Wahab and Sarfaraz
 
Savak said:
I am blaming misbah ul haq tuk tuk philosophy which he thoroughly ingrained during his 7 year tenure.

Yes problems are rooted in our domestic pitches and uae pitches as well but the 90's Pakistani batsmen batted flamboyantly on the same pitches
Click to expand...

Whatever Misbah's philosophy was, he won you guys test series. If it's not working now then it's not because of Misbah and his philosophy. It's because the current players aren't performing.
 
Bad runnate cost this match along with always present bad captaincy factor.
 
Wahab and Sarfraz both cant justofy their position in the team in any format.
Azhar should be worried about his form as well

is bilal asif the spinner the team is dying for ? no !!!
 
Savak said:
The main culprits are Wahab and Sarfaraz
Click to expand...

Sarfra is not good enough as captain and Riaz obviously should not be in the side BUT Khawaja and those that stuck around were bigger factors than that.
 
I remember the Indian cricket team has had spinners in the past who were quickly figured out. Bowlers like Sivaramakrishna and Hirwani started strong but quickly faded.

Asif has gone from 6 for 36 to 0 for 87 in the space of one innings. I wonder if the Australian batsmen have figured him out.
[MENTION=79064]MMHS[/MENTION] [MENTION=134809]sensible-indian-fan[/MENTION]
 
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Napa said:
I remember the Indian cricket team has had spinners in the past who were quickly figured out. Bowlers like Sivaramakrishna and Hirwani started strong but quickly faded.

Asif has gone from 6 for 36 to 0 for 87 in the space of one innings. I wonder if the Australian batsmen have figured him out.
[MENTION=79064]MMHS[/MENTION] [MENTION=134809]sensible-indian-fan[/MENTION]
Click to expand...

I haven't been watching the game enough to comment.

These stuff happen even to good bowlers at times.

It will take some more time to judge whether Bilal is good or not.

He seems to have turn and bounce which is a good combo. Need to see more of him really.
 
Napa said:
I remember the Indian cricket team has had spinners in the past who were quickly figured out. Bowlers like Sivaramakrishna and Hirwani started strong but quickly faded.

Asif has gone from 6 for 36 to 0 for 87 in the space of one innings. I wonder if the Australian batsmen have figured him out.
[MENTION=79064]MMHS[/MENTION] [MENTION=134809]sensible-indian-fan[/MENTION]
Click to expand...

6/36 in 23 overs are unreal figures on debut - this doesn't happen often in every decade. Hirwani & Shiva were quite decent leggi, but they started with 16 wickets & 12 wickets on debut (Shiva probably not on debut against Poms in 1985) - none can keep that level. I would like to take Bilal's 1st Test as 6/123 in like 58 overs - still brilliant - he'll be one of the greats of the game if by 38, he ends-up with 35 Tests for 170 wickets @25 :)

I don't think there was much about figuring out - guy didn't get his 6fors with some mystery balls. His first one (Shaun), was a classic off-spinner's dismissal against lefti, 3rd one (Head) as well. 2nd one was a poor shot by Khwaja, but he was tied down as well by Bilal bowling round the wicket. 4th & 5th were again classical Offie's dismissal for right-handers on a turning track (caught at short leg) and 6th one last batsman trier to slog. A better plan by Aussies 2nd time - definitely. For a change on this dead slow wicket, they decided to wait for him to reach rather than pushing at him (his ball), which worked.

But, biggest culprit was PAK's fielding tactics - defending 462, even had Aussies were 303/4 at lunch, with 160 required in 2 sessions, one can always tighten screw & deny scoring - PAK was never in any threat of losing the game. Yet, Sarfraz went for defensive from start and allowed too many singles which doesn't allow spinners to target one batsman. I think, when you have plenty of runs, spinners don't mind conceding a boundary, if he can bowl 6 balls to one batsman with 4-5 catching fielders around. Same Bilal, defending 462 with 3 down already, under Misbah could have ended with another 5for. Last tour, Babar actually had 2 5fors in 2nd innings against Aussies - before that, Rehman ran through Poms. UAE is for finger spinners, provided that right tactics is applied.

Hope pankha base won't recall this post when next time Bilal gets wickets or Captain dynamic defends a total.
 
sensible-indian-fan said:
I haven't been watching the game enough to comment.

These stuff happen even to good bowlers at times.

It will take some more time to judge whether Bilal is good or not.

He seems to have turn and bounce which is a good combo. Need to see more of him really.
Click to expand...

MMHS said:
6/36 in 23 overs are unreal figures on debut - this doesn't happen often in every decade. Hirwani & Shiva were quite decent leggi, but they started with 16 wickets & 12 wickets on debut (Shiva probably not on debut against Poms in 1985) - none can keep that level. I would like to take Bilal's 1st Test as 6/123 in like 58 overs - still brilliant - he'll be one of the greats of the game if by 38, he ends-up with 35 Tests for 170 wickets @25 :)

I don't think there was much about figuring out - guy didn't get his 6fors with some mystery balls. His first one (Shaun), was a classic off-spinner's dismissal against lefti, 3rd one (Head) as well. 2nd one was a poor shot by Khwaja, but he was tied down as well by Bilal bowling round the wicket. 4th & 5th were again classical Offie's dismissal for right-handers on a turning track (caught at short leg) and 6th one last batsman trier to slog. A better plan by Aussies 2nd time - definitely. For a change on this dead slow wicket, they decided to wait for him to reach rather than pushing at him (his ball), which worked.

But, biggest culprit was PAK's fielding tactics - defending 462, even had Aussies were 303/4 at lunch, with 160 required in 2 sessions, one can always tighten screw & deny scoring - PAK was never in any threat of losing the game. Yet, Sarfraz went for defensive from start and allowed too many singles which doesn't allow spinners to target one batsman. I think, when you have plenty of runs, spinners don't mind conceding a boundary, if he can bowl 6 balls to one batsman with 4-5 catching fielders around. Same Bilal, defending 462 with 3 down already, under Misbah could have ended with another 5for. Last tour, Babar actually had 2 5fors in 2nd innings against Aussies - before that, Rehman ran through Poms. UAE is for finger spinners, provided that right tactics is applied.

Hope pankha base won't recall this post when next time Bilal gets wickets or Captain dynamic defends a total.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the insights.
 
Poor from Pakistan. Any Asian team except Afgans would have won in this situation against this depleted Aussie side. 140 overs , without their 2 best players of spin,being demoralized for bundled out for 202 in first innings ,playing last day on not an easy track,it had all the ingredients in favor of Pakistan.Congrats to Australia for chieving this draw
 
So, we cant even beat a second string team that is without David Warner and Steve Smith, Chee chee chee.
 
princeuk said:
So, we cant even beat a second string team that is without David Warner and Steve Smith, Chee chee chee.
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The advantgeous position Pakistan team were in , should have defeated Australia even with Warner , Smith
 
We should have won that won. Unable to take two more wickets is a devastating blow. I fear the Aussies gaining great confidence with this draw will do us in the next Test.
 
Lol

not taking them 2 wickets and having a typical collapse
not good for confidence
 
One thing about us Aussies is that we always fight and are always competitive, it comes from a strong sporting culture. India and all those types of countries are big in population and only play one major sport but yet can't compete with a small country population wise like Australia.
 
Mamba Red said:
One thing about us Aussies is that we always fight and are always competitive, it comes from a strong sporting culture. India and all those types of countries are big in population and only play one major sport but yet can't compete with a small country population wise like Australia.
Click to expand...

yes thtas true, thats why india is ranked 1st and 2nd in test/odi and you guys are ranked 3rd and 6th :akhtar
 
** Most consecutive Tests without a draw:
26 Zim (2005-17)
23 Aus (1999-01)
22 Eng (1884-92)
22 Aus (2001-03)
22 Pak (2015-18) - streak ended today

** This is the first drawn Test between Pakistan & Australia since October 1998 - 19 consecutive Tests with a result before this draw (Pak won 3, Aus won 16).

** Most overs batted in 4th inngs for a draw (Asia):
142.0 Ban v Zim, Dhaka, 2005
140.0 Eng v SL, Kandy, 2003
139.5 Aus v Pak, Dubai, 2018
136.0 Ind v WI, Kolkata, 1948

----

Usman Khawaja | Man of the match

----
 
Was an exciting match. Gave up when Khawaja and Paine were looking comfortable but when i saw they had both been dismissed I put my stream back on. When Siddle was LBW I went crazy. Frustrating we couldn't take the last 2 wickets but was a good game of cricket.
 
Agonizing when Abbas got that inside edge bowling an off cutter to Paine with about seven overs to go. Couple of other moments like that too. Was a close run thing with only one possible winner.
 
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