Summary Yasir Shah was termed as a trump card before the series but has failed to make an impact
SYDNEY: (Zainab Abbas) - Matthew Renshaw scored his first century in Tests to lead Australia into a commanding position for the first day of 365/3. Renshaw who started out slowly and had a 151-run partnership with Warner demonstrated grit and resilience and played out the whole day dominating the Pakistan bowling attack. He was particularly strong on his legside and often worked the ball in the gaps to rotate the strike and flick them away.
Warner set the tone for the match once again as he put away the Pakistan bowlers for six an over and reached a century before lunch. Wahab Riaz in the press conference later said “Its unfortunate that we were unable to execute our plans the way we should have, we work really hard in the nets, but if we don’t implement plans then it will always be a struggle”.
Pakistan have struggled to get the start they wanted as their bowlers toiled away in getting their line and length right. Imran Khan, who was given a chance in this test as a replacement for Sohail Khan, lost control in his opening spell and bowled short and wide and allowed Warner to free his arms. Warner joined the elite club of Victor Trumper, Charles Macartney, Sir Donald Bradman and Majid Khan to score a century in the first session of a Test match.
Amir, who looked fatigued and struggling as well with niggle throughout the day, was not at his very best. The opening bowlers struggled for Pakistan as the shortish length allowed Warner to take complete control of the Test match. He eventually edged one to Sarfaraz off the bowling of Wahab who was the pick of the bowlers. Wahab, who had been under scrutiny for his no balls, bowled tight lines and kept coming at the batsmen. He bowled two No Balls in the day, but got the wickets of Steven Smith & David Warner by bowling fuller and getting the ball to shape away slightly.
Yasir Shah, once again, erred in his line and length as he bowled flat and didn’t make the batsmen play enough. Since Lord’s, Shah has averaged 75.43 with an economy of 3.82 and a strike rate of 118.3 outside Asia. Shah was termed as a trump card before the series but has failed to make an impact in this series so far & went over a hundred runs in thirty overs.
Pakistan’s bowling unit collectively failed and gave away at least one poor ball each over. It didn’t help their cause that Babar Azam spilled Usman Khawaja’s catch off Imran Khan’s bowling at Gully followed by another difficult take missed by Sarfaraz during Yasir’s spell. Peter Handscomb, who watched carefully and likes to play at the backfoot, was given a life and closed the day at stumps with a fighting 40 in 82 balls.
Australia is all set to make a mammoth total. Pakistan would hope to come back on day 2 and take some quick wickets to restrict their total and then bat well to stay in the game.
