- Pat Cummins, Australia’s captain, is scrutinized.
- Pakistan pulled off a remarkable draw in the Karachi Test.
- Australia blew multiple opportunities to strike out hitters.
The Australian media slammed Australian captain Pat Cummins and questioned his tactics after Pakistan’s remarkable draw in the Karachi Test.
Cummins defended his choice in the drawn second Test against Pakistan not to enforce the follow-on. When Australia finished their first innings, they had 556-9 on the scoreboard. They then bowled Pakistan out for 148 to take a 408-run lead over Pakistan at Karachi’s National Stadium.
Rather than forcing Pakistan to bat, Cummins chose to bat, and Australia declared their second innings at 97-2, giving Pakistan a record win target of 506.
196 from Babar Azam helped Pakistan fight back, and Australia was finally three wickets short of taking the first game of the three-match series 1-0.
Continue reading about Pakistan’s test record
“Coming over here in these circumstances, if you told us at the start of the series that it would be nil-all after two games, we probably would have taken it,” Cummins told reporters.
According to Fox News, in light of Cummins’ decision, there is an “argument” that Australia may have faced a recurrence of the Kolkata 2001 disaster had they enforced the follow-on.
Fox News said: “It was something Cummins was probably keenly aware of and avoided, knowing that 170 overs was sufficient time to generate ten opportunities.”
Melinda Farrell was ‘overjoyed‘ to witness Babar Azam play against Australia.
In the end, Australia generated far more than ten chances and still lost the Test – so it’s worth wondering who is really to blame here.
Australia also missed multiple opportunities to remove Pakistani hitters in the second innings, with Steve Smith’s slip of Abdullah Shafique on day four being the highlight.
“This was a regulation sliding catch that oddly struck Smith in the stomach and landed directly on the ground,” the magazine said.
Continue reading: Babar Azam’s century helps Pakistan draw the Karachi Test
The inexperienced batsman was just in his twenties at the time, but he went on to smash 96 runs and form a much-needed 200-run partnership with captain Babar Azam.
On day five, Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne both dropped catches of Babar, giving him two further lives.
Mohammad Rizwan took a gamble in the third over to get his century before stumps and picked out Usman Khawaja at extra cover. If Khawaja had taken the catch, Pakistan would have had to bat two overs with their No. 9 and No. 10 at the crease, it was said.
Khawaja, on the other hand, missed an “easy opportunity” to secure the draw.
Continue reading: The most “striking” image from the Karachi Test
After all, 170 overs is an abnormally long period of time to be on the field.
“Look, we had enough overs to bowl them out but were unable to do so,” former Australia captain Michael Clarke stated on Thursday’s Big Sports Breakfast.
“We did lose a couple of chances on days four and five, and I’m sure they’re frustrated.”
As the magazine wrote, it becomes “more critical than ever when chasing a result on a sluggish surface, and Australia fell short once again.”
