PAK vs AUS | 3rd Test | Naseem Shah’s reserve swing headlines Day 2 as game still hangs in balance

Things were following their usual path in the third Test match of the series between Pakistan and Australia as Cameron Green and Alex Carey went on to hit individual 50s early Tuesday, 22 March. The pitch has turned out to be a notorious point of contention this series, with bowlers having little to no assistance from the deck for large parts of the Test matches. 

However, when things looked bleak for Pakistan on Tuesday, Naseem Shah used every bit of his Pakistani charm to find the slightest bit of reverse swing on the deck, to plough through the Australia lower middle order helping Pakistan make an unlikely comeback in the first innings. Naseem’s spell came at a time when Green and Carey were finding middle of the bat with most of their attacking shots, leaving senior pros like Hasan Ali clueless as to what should be done.

Naseem first got Green with a stunning ball, pitched at a teasing length, that tailed at the very last minute, leaving Green look like an amatuer. He bowled the Australian through his defence and affected the downfall of the Australian order. Shah alongside another Shah in Shaheen found the energy and the spirit to ping in two thundering yorkers bowling out Nathan Lyon and Mitchell Swepson respectively to cap the Australian innings at 391 runs, something that at a point of time looked like could go on to 500-550 by the end of the day.

Both pacers took four each while the spinners Nuaman Ali and Sajid Khan took one each - prized wickets of Alex Carey and Usman Khawaja respectively.

Three batsmen this innings were denied centuries, with all of them playing tremendous innings of their own. Alex Carey seems to have found form after falling into the hotel pool in Karachi hitting one 90s and one 60s already. Alongside Carey, Cameron Green was also left stranded at 79 against a brilliant delivery after batting valiantly for 163 balls.

Coming into bowl, Australia were able to manage the lone wicket of Imam-ul-Haq, who was caught plumb in front by Pat Cummins, who has made it a habit to produce moments of magic in dead pitches.

At the end of day’s play, Pakistan’s cautious approach bore them 90 runs after 39 overs at the loss of just one wicket.

Opener Abdullah Shafique (45 off 117) was in the crease alongside Azhar Ali (30 off 79). The moving day of the Test match can prove to be crucial for the result of this game. If Pakistan do not choose to push for a result, they could end up batting slowly for long sessions and kill the game. But if Australia can manage to find reverse like they did in the first innings of the second Test match, things could get very interesting in the final Test of a dry series.