Pat Cummins eventually made his announcement after the visitors had scored 51 runs.
Australia (556 for 9 Dec (Khawaja 160, Carey 93, Smith 72) leads Pakistan 38 for 1 (Khawaja 160, Carey 93).
On the third day of the second Test against Australia, Mitchell Swepson made a sensational run out before lunch to remove Pakistan opener Abdullah Shafique.
As soon as he took his long-awaited Test debut over, Swepson hit Shafique with a sidearm throw from a backward point to run him out. Shafique had scored an easy second-innings hundred in Rawalpindi.
Pakistan reached lunch on 38-1 in response to Australia’s 556-9, with Azhar Ali unbeaten on 13 and Imam-ul-Haq unbeaten on 20. Swepson’s 28-year-old self was boosted by Shafique’s dismissal on a Karachi surface that still favors batting.
Swepson’s moment of truth came in the 13th over, when the leg-spinner entered the fray for the first time since 2017. After a shaky start with the ball, he eventually found his length against left-handed Imam, who hit 200 and was named Rawalpindi’s player of the match, and began bowling around the wicket.
Earlier in the day, Swepson and Nathan Lyon bowled together as Australia’s first specialist legspinners since Bryce McGain in 2009, but the Pakistan batsmen showed little worry.
Australia’s pumped-up attack looked to bounce back after taking only four wickets in 217.1 overs in the first Test amid a stalemate, with plenty of runs on the board against tired opponents. Fast bowler Mitchell Starc, chosen above Josh Hazlewood to be the second seamer, appeared in excellent rhythm and bowled quickly, reaching speeds of mid-140kph/90mph.
After a gruelling fielding period, Pakistan will have their work cut out for them when they finally get to bat again. Captain Pat Cummins was miserly as usual and delivered many deliveries that remained low.
Australia, despite some criticism of their choice to bat into the third day, chose to take full advantage of the batting-friendly conditions on a Karachi surface that was supposed to deteriorate and grind Pakistan down. They seem to only want to bat once on a pitch that has a tendency to bounce, swing, and turn in unexpected ways.
Cummins ultimately declared Australia’s innings after 189 overs on day two after restraining himself late in the day. For 35 minutes on day three, Pakistan had to put up with a cumbersome 34 from Cummins, which included three sixes, the last of which signalled Pakistan’s innings’ end. Swepson was unbeaten at the end of their half-century partnership, which saw him score 15 runs.
After batting slowly through the last session of the second day, Starc was removed on the second ball of the day’s play and failed to add to his overnight total of 28.
This inning was a big one for Sajid Khan, the off-spinner who produced an ominous turn on the second day, who took 2 for 167 from his five overs.
To begin, Usman Khawaja scored a superb 160 off 369 balls in the city where he was born and raised, and he was joined by Alex Carey (93) and Steve Smith (72) in reaching half-centuries after Cummins won the vital toss.
The pressure is on Pakistan’s batsmen as they attempt to chip away at Australia’s massive total, which is predicted to be in the mid-30s once again in Karachi.
