Pakistan’s losing run in the Test match against Australia continues

Australian captain Pat Cummins led his team to yet another series victory against Pakistan on Friday, taking ten wickets in the Melbourne Test.

On the penultimate day of the Boxing Day Test, just when it appeared that everything would come down to the wire, the pacer intervened to remove Mohammad Rizwan, the last remaining recognized batsman in Pakistan, and record his 250th test wicket.

After that, Cummins (5-49) removed Aamer Jamal for a duck, which led to a half-hour of extra play. In that time, he took his tenth wicket of the game and fifth of the innings to help clean up the tail.

It capped off an incredible year in which he guided Australia to the World Test Championship, a 50-overs World Cup victory, and the Ashes in England. It was his second 10-wicket match haul in 57 tests.

“A crazy year. Man of the Match winner Cummins stated, “Lots of cricket, lots of success on the field.”

“I think we’re going to look back and remember 2023 as one of the special ones.”

After bowling Australia out for 262 before lunch, the tourists set an intimidating goal of 317 runs and formed a number of partnerships that stymied the formidable Australian attack.

When the goal was under 100 runs thanks to the final significant partnership of 57 between Agha Salman (50) and Rizwan (35) there were some nervousness at home, but when Cummins broke the duo, the match was effectively over.

Australia win the second Test by 79 runs.#AUSvPAK pic.twitter.com/nRYnHujU8W

— Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) December 29, 2023

Over the course of the first four days, Pakistan had made multiple threats to seize control of the match, but they ultimately let the Australians off the hook.

Australia recovered from a 16-4 deficit after lunch on Thursday to resume on 187-6 on a bright morning at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), thanks to an innings of 96 from Mitchell Marsh.

Before being trapped leg before by seamer Mir Hamza (4-32) to complete the innings, wicketkeeper Alex Carey hit 52 to help expand the margin.

Considering that in 146 years of test matches at the MCG, only one side had managed to chase more than 300 runs in the fourth innings, Pakistan were always going to be up against it.

When Australia won the first test by 360 runs in Perth, the tourists were out of the game for 89 runs in the fourth innings, and early signs pointed to Melbourne suffering a similar fate.

Before lunch, Abdullah Shafique, whose missed slip catches in both innings cost Pakistan so much, went for four as he lunged at a delivery from Mitchell Starc, allowing Usman Khawaja to take the catch in the cordon.

Soon after play resumed, Cummins trapped Imam-Ul-Haq in front for 12, but Australia’s progress was halted by a 61-run combination between Shan Masood and Babar Azam.

Once more, Cummins created a breakthrough by forcing Masood into a mistake that Steve Smith took advantage of when the Pakistani skipper reached 60.

Azam persisted in making the scoreboard move, but Australia’s bowlers showed patience by concentrating on the top of his off stump. Josh Hazlewood eventually got the prize, bowling the Pakistani danger man for 41 with a tucked delivery.

Although Pakistan was still 155 runs short of their objective, they managed to establish another partnership for just 16 runs until Starc (4-55) dropped down a delivery that grew huge on Saud Shakeel, who top-edged it behind to Carey for 24.

Given that his club was on the verge of overcoming a 15-match losing streak in Australia dating back to 1995, Masood’s optimism was astounding.

The 34-year-old, whose side will have another opportunity to end that run in the third test in Sydney next week, stated, “In terms of the bigger picture, this is the way we want to play test cricket.”

“We are playing test cricket in these conditions, persevering through to the end and trying to get a result where we can.” I believe that’s something that our team needs to move forward with.”