Captain Pat Cummins and senior pacer Mitchell Starc provided a masterclass of fast bowling on Day 3 of the 3rd Test between Pakistan and Australia on flat grass at Lahore’s Gadaffi Stadium to give the visiting team a sizeable lead in the first innings.
Pakistan lost their last 7 wickets on just 20 runs as Starc and Cummins unleashed a fiery spell of reverse swing bowling towards the end of Day 3.
Captain Cummins bowled an impeccable line and length to take his seventh move with five wickets in Tests while Starc breathed fire with his pace and backswing to take four as Pakistan fell out with 268, responding to Australia’s 391 overall. Australia openers Usman Khawaja and David Warner managed to go through three overs before taking their side 11-0 and extending their lead to 134 overall.
Lahore Test Day 3: Highlights
With Pakistan looking content at 248-3, Starc triggered the collapse with a double strike to remove Fawad Alam and wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan, then also took the precious wicket from Pakistan captain Babar Azam for 67.
A hopeless record for the skipper. Well played!#BoysReadyHain l #PAKvOFF pic.twitter.com/Fs3iXBEkrw
— Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) March 23, 2022
Cummins, who took the only wicket that fell on Tuesday, ran through the lower order to leave the sparse crowd stunned in silence.
Cummins also set a new record for best bowling figures by a visiting captain, with 5 out of 56, beating Indian grandmaster Vinoo Mankad’s record of 1955 (5 out of 64).
The collapse looked even more incredible after Abdullah Shafique and Azhar Ali resolutely hit half a century, leaving Australia without a wicket in the first session to create a good platform for Pakistan to score a sizeable sum.
GOOD OPPORTUNITY
“It’s been a little blurry for the last few hours,” Cummins said after the stunning final session.
“We will sit back and fight tomorrow. Much like the last game, we gave ourselves a good opportunity here, really before the game, so hopefully we’ll hit well and then try to take the last 10 wickets.”
CUMMINS TOP BOWLER
Meanwhile, Pakistan batsman Azhar Ali praised the Australian pacesetters for producing the wickets in the final session after a hard day’s work.
“I think we have to give them credit. We’ve always known how good they are, especially Starc, when it comes to backswing. Cummins is an all-round good bowler, he’s one of the best bowlers in the world right now,” Azhar told Reporters.
“They kept bowling in all the right places, they even kept asking the thugs questions. It was nice to see good fast reverse swing bowling. Unfortunately we were on the receiving end.”
Australia will look to push for a win and seal the streak on their first trip to Pakistan in more than two decades. The first two tests of the series were drawn.
