Test 3: Abdullah Shafique and Azhar Ali stabilize Pakistan in response to Australia’s 391 on Day 2

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Lahore Test Day 2: Abdullah Shafique and Azhar Ali combined in an unbroken 70-streak to start Pakistan’s solid response to Australia’s first innings with 391 overall.

Abdullah Shafique and Azhar Ali Company in response to Australia's 391 (AP Photo)

Abdullah Shafique and Azhar Ali Company in response to Australia’s 391 (AP Photo)

HIGHLIGHTS

  • Shafique and Azhar’s partnership helps Pakistan end Day 2 on a high
  • Pakistan reached 90/1 at the end of the second day of play
  • Australia was thrown out for 391 in their first innings

Abdullah Shafique and Azhar Ali sewed a solid unbeaten stand for the second wicket to help Pakistan end the second day of the third and final Test against Australia in Lahore on a high. Opener Shafique was unbeaten on 45 points, with No30, No3 Azhar undefeated as the hosts went 90/1 at the end of Matchday 2, trailing Australia on 301 points.

Pakistan vs Australia, Day 3 Test 2: Highlights

Shafique and the veteran Azhar, playing his 94th Test but the first in his hometown of Lahore, came together after the early loss of opener Imam-ul-Haq and showed plenty of patience to keep the testing Australian bowlers at bay.

The touring squad posted a healthy total, helped by determined half-centuries from Cameron Green and Alex Carey earlier on Tuesday.

All-rounder Green hit a career-best 79 in his 12th test match and Carey hit 67 in nearly three hours before Pakistan won five wickets for 50 runs in the middle session and knocked out Australia just before tea.

Naseem Shah and Shaheen Shah Afridi finished with four wickets each for the hosts with a brilliant display of reverse swing bowling on a variable bounce pitch.

Left-arm spinner Nauman Ali finished the 135-run six-wicket stand when Carey had a plumb leg off the wicket when the batsman tried to play across the line and was hit on the front pad. Carey hit 105 balls and dominated the spinners with his reverse sweep shots.

Naseem, who replaced all-rounder Faheem Ashraf in the only change Pakistan made from the epic-drawn second Test, denied Green his first Test hundred when he cornered the big right-hander cleanly from a delivery that shaped into the batter and the stumps hit by a large gap between racket and pad.

The first two Tests of the series – the first between the sides in Pakistan since 1998 – were drawn.

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