PAK vs AUS | Babar-Shafique keep visitors at bay with steady partnership at Tea

Pakistan captain Babar Azam and Abdullah Shafique kept the Australia attack at bay putting up 83 runs between them. The partnership was crucial for Pakistan’s survival in the fourth innings, after they lost the wickets of Imam-ul-Haq and Azhar Ali for just 22 runs.

It was an incredible spell of bowling from the Australians after declaring early on day 4, making life hell for the batters out there. They barely bowled any loose balls in the first 20 overs, piling up pressure on the host batters. The result was that Imam gave into Nathan Lyon’s arm ball, that caught him plumb in front of the wickets to bring the first wicket for Australia. 

The Pat Cummins led attack bowled very well on the day, and could have had more rewards if catches stuck in the slip. The deterioration of the pitch helped the cause massively for the Australians, with some balls absolutely dying down after pitching in the back of good length area.

The second wicket came due to the same reason with a Cameron Green short ball bouncing low and hitting Azhar Ali while he was ducking down. He was adjudged LBW but replays showed that it hit his gloves first and would have been saved if he had opted for the DRS.

Pakistan showed intent in the second session of the day, after doing everything they could to survive the first one. Both batsmen used their feet well with Babar Azam cutting hard at width offered to him, while Shafique chose to step down and attack the overpitched ones.

The pitch has already shown signs of major deterioration, and the third session will prove to be crucial for the game. If Pakistan can remain wicketless in the final session of the day, they would certainly believe that they can save this Test match.

On the other hand, Australia might start attacking the stumps from the good length area, and hope that the inconsistent bounce can do the trick in fading light of Day 4. At Tea, Pakistan are at 104/2, still 402 runs behind the target.