PAK vs AUS | 3rd Test | Day 5: Australia close series with an enthralling win

Red-ball round of the Pakistan-Australia series came to a close on Friday as the visitors gathered a historic victory, defeating Babar Azam's men in the third Test match of the series by 115 runs. While the first two Tests ended as stalemates, the competitive Lahore pitch invoked a result as the series ended in the favour of the Aussies.

Pakistan was given a target of 351 by Australia, of which 73 runs had already been scored on the penultimate day of the game. With all wickets in hand, the host side aimed to strode on the path of a win but lost an early wicket in the form of Abdullah Shafique on Day 5. 

Imam-ul-Haq and Azhar Ali carried on with the progression. The opener brought his half-century but Nathan Lyon laid waste on the other end, dismissing Azhar for 17 runs. Skipper Babar Azam arrived at the crease, looking to repeat his last match's heroics, however, the focus now was pushing the game towards a draw.

Both the batters put on a grind in the middle, building the innings brick by brick. But their extra cautious approach eventually faded as Lyon again struck gold, sending Imam back to the pavilion at the score of 70. Fawad Alam walked in next but it did not take too long for Australia to get hold of him as their captain Pat Cummins took his wicket for 11 runs.

Cummins sent a major dent to Pakistan's middle-order with the wicket of in-form Mohammad Rizwan, who perished for a rare duck. DRS could have saved him but the wicket-keeper-batter decided not to opt for it.

Babar Azam reached another fifty but his innings went in vain with no support from the other end. Eventually, Lyon gathered his important wicket as Pakistan was then down to 213/6. Sajid Khan gave it his all but his effort was well short of the requirement. 

From thereon, it was only a matter of time for Australia to put a Test match win under their belt. Cummins deservedly claimed the final scalp as Australia won the game by 115 runs and clinched the Benaud-Qadir Trophy by 1-0.

This loss has pushed Pakistan down to the fourth position in the World Test Championship 2021-23 points table with 52.38 percentage points, while Australia retained the numero uno spot with 75 percentage points.