Australia complete nail-biting victory over Pakistan in first Test

Of the 25 instances of Pakistan batsmen scoring a hundred in Tests in Australia, Shafiq’s 140 ball effort is joint-fourth fastest besides Majid Khan and only behind Ijaz Ahmed (137), Saeed Anwar (133) and Mohammad Yousuf (117).

The small numbers of fans, however, who stuck it out until after 10:00pm (local time) on Sunday night to watch a stunning finish to a remarkable day’s cricket might not necessarily agree with his confident assessment of the state of play. That left Australia three sessions Monday to take two wickets.

Starc’s speed and direction were vital throughout, and it remains to be seen whether the huge number of overs bowled by him and Josh Hazlewood will have an impact on their physical preparation for the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne. The ball rolled up his arm and floated up to Steve Smith, who ran behind the wicketkeeper to take a simple catch.

The top order offered stoic resistance before Shafiq and the tail let loose and almost did the impossible.

Having lost 7-24 in the same period of their first innings, the Australian crowd could have been forgiven for expecting yet another glut of wickets.

Shafiq had the consolation of being the Man of the Match after his 336-minute epic in which he faced 207 balls and hit 13 fours, along with one six. He was not out 100 at the close and Yasir Shah was on four, surviving three balls after Wahab was caught at slip in the last over. The pair was looking good to pull off a miracle for Pakistan, before Starc removed Shafiq.

“I am hoping the pitch is going to be a bit flatter than the shield wicket which would be even better”.

But the sight of Smith, comfortably the safest set of hands in the XI, dropping two slips catches was one of many signs of how real the struggle has been for Australia.

It finally paid off when Azhar Ali tried to flick a rising ball down to fine leg, only to edge to Matthew Wade. Later on, middle-order batsmen Asad Shafiq showed his determination when he scored a brilliant century and built a partnership with Yasir Shah.

The Victorian will make his debut at the MCG full of confidence following his maiden Test century at the Gabba and said the Aussies also believed they could beat Pakistan in the traditional Test. Everyone was optimistic that we would fight until the very end. “I’d prefer to be in our position than theirs”.

Amir was attacked with short stuff right from the onset of Day 3 by Mitchell Starc.

“As a skipper I can understand, there are so many things going through your mind sometimes”, Misbah-ul-Haq said.