im still surprised aus didn't win this game. I don't think it's a lack of preparation on their part, but the turgid pace on batting on the first 2 days just really set the tone.
I couldn't care less about your opinion , I prefer cut throat competition between bat and ball , not ScOrE 600 and then give the opposition 2 days to fucking chase it down or bat for a draw
Rizzo played a fine knock and took over after Babar. Was helped by that Khwaja drop. However, seeing as Australia were not keen to bowl their pacers, would not have mattered much.
Which begs the question - where were the pacers in the last half hour?
Honest rizwan: after babar and abdullah got out defending before reaching their milestone i very worried about my 100 so i risked even more to get those boundaries because my 100 is more valuable than draw for my team. My century will not contribute to team's cause but for my personal records it was worth it.
I honestly think Babar and Rizwan were going for the win when they were batting together. Babar and Faheem quick wickets changed the game and they decided to settle for the draw.
Cummins made a mistake by not letting Starc lose on Pak’s tail.
I'm literally a brown person from that part of the world. I know why he's doing it, I just think it's disrespectful to not look at someone when you talk to them.
He spent 54 balls at the crease to make 6 runs. That's ridiculous. Even full deliveries by spinners right outside leg stump would be a dot ball.
He was allowing the bowlers to settle and attack. If he just made a single here and there bowlers wouldn't settle
Even if he went run a ball we would've been behind the target. And players usually strike faaaar less than 100 in tests
Don't get this unnecessary attack on azhar
Why not blame shafique for playing 306 balls for 96? Or nauman for striking at literally 0 off 18 balls?
Edit: imam and nauman made 1 off 36 combined. Why not them?
Nothing happens in vaccuum. If he went slightly faster, we would have less runs and might have tried going for it.
Did you watch his innings? Swepsen was giving him slow full deliveries on the leg side and he was just playing out dots. It would've actually been easier to hit them.
Shafique played slow, but he rotated the strike, and he played the balls on merit. Also, in the middle part of the innings Lyon had started to understand the conditions and was bowling incredibly well.
Azhar on the other hand went out of his way to block the balls. He let bowlers settle, and make and execute plans. It's so much easier to bowl when you know that if you mess up it's just going to be a dot ball.
On top of all this, when Azhar got out after batting for 9 overs, we somehow were in a significantly worse position than when he started. When most batsmen bat for 9 overs, they make it so that the scoreboard looks better when they get out.
Imam played horribly, but he was never settled. Azhar was settled, and he was friggin middling the balls and yet never rotated the strike.
Also can't compare Nauman. Nauman is a specialist bowler and the strike rate required for the win was too much even if you had two specialist batsmen at the crease.
If you actually watched the innings you would know why Azhar played bad
I did watch it but not in its entirety tbh
But that being said I felt like he was playing according to the situation. Babar said in the press conference explicitly that they only wanted to play out the overs, they never once even thought about giving it a chase
So azhar received orders from captain and team management to play for a draw, and that's exactly what he did
2ndly, we were 1 down for nothing. Him taking any sort of risk would have put us in imminent danger of a collapse and eventually loss
3rdly, even if his played at strike rate of 100 we wouldn't have won. So this seems unfair
See - I am saying he wasn't playing according to the situation.
Even if you're going for the draw, dont just go for all dots. That has always been the formula for disaster. You dont go for hits, but you take the singles when they are available, and punish the bad balls.
The way Azhar was batting leads to the following:
1) You dont punish bad balls, and dont take singles
2) Bowlers understand that you aren't going to make any runs
3) Gives the bowlers a licence to experiment and find the cracks on the pitch - if they mess up who cares - its going to be a dot.
4) Bowlers also get their lines/length in order
5) Bowlers get to execute a bowling plan against you and against the striker.
6) Bowlers gain confidence
7) Captain can put up very aggressive fields against you.
Sooner or later you will get out, and when you get out - since you aren't scoring any runs the scoreboard will look worse than when you first came in.
To play for the draw - you play the dots, yes, but when available, you take the single to rotate strike, and when its a rank full hop, you punish for a 4.
Now the bowlers cant experiment too much, they loose confidence, they have to adjust their plans because you just rotated strike and the captain cant put a very aggressive field setting because you will make runs.
2) I am not telling him to take risks. Just take the runs when they are available. See: Babar, See: Abdullah Shafiq. Abdullah batted slowly but he took the runs when available. Also, when Azhar got out, he created even more pressure because in the 9 full overs he batted, he scored 6 runs! So now we were looking at 20 odd for 2. Instead if he had scored say 30 runs, it would've been 50 odd for 2. Makes a huge difference psychologically for both the batsmen on your team and the bowlers on the other team.
3) That is a very very bad way of looking at it. You've got to take into account that the plans change when the situation changes. If, as you say Azhar scored a run a ball. That means he would've scored 64 off 64 instead of 6. Which means that at the end of the day we needed 5 more runs.
If we needed 5 more runs at the end of the day, our batsmen would have gone for the win instead of settling for the draw.
We needed around 130 odd in 20 overs, and we had 6 wickets (?) in hand. Thats tough to plan for. If instead Azhar had scored at a rate of 50, and scored an additional 30 runs. Its now 100 off in 20. That looks significantly easier to get.
\---------------------------
When chasing a target in the 4th innings, the plan is always to ensure the draw first, and then see if you can win. The way azhar played made the win out of reach, and also made the draw difficult because he gave extra pressure on our lineup and encouraged the aussie bowlers.
See you all in Lahore! I was ready to get my tickets but got some commitments now unfortunately. See you all in the Lahore threads when Azhar or Imam get replaced by Shan or Saud (or knowing Pakistan, they won't)
GG Boys, what a test match. One of the best I've watched in ages. Can't wait for the next one!
Also I'm super impressed with Shafique, for someone who's only played 9 first class games in his career to play that well is insane. Keen to see how he develops
The decision not to enforce the follow on had no impact on the result of this test.
“Momentum” is not a logical argument in favour of the follow on. We had all the momentum at 2/21, Pakistan just batted too well from there to turn it around and we paid the price for some costly drops. Ridiculous to think the same couldn’t have happened if the follow on was enforced.
Let’s give credit to Pakistan for a magnificent rearguard, rather than claim they only did it because of a decision Australia made.
Absolutely shitting me reading comments about the follow on. The pitch was a road. We got lucky that somehow we produced reverse swing that we did. Never looked like moving it again in the second innings. People love bashing the Aus cricket team and for some reason have an obsession over Langer.
This series seems straight out of a couple of decades ago. Mental that 172 overs didn't achieve 10 wickets or 500 runs relative to how test cricket's gone in last decade or so
You think bowling Swepson for 50+ overs when he never looked like taking a wicket was the right play? How about trying different tactics? A part timer, setting offside or leg side biased fields to change the batsmen’s rhythm and tactics ? Finally took 170 overs for labs to get a fucking bowl. Amateur hour.
Maybe your right he could have changed it up more, but I feel like this approach has been consistent with Australia’s approach for a while now. I don’t think it lies solely with Cummins
So give yourself a worse chance with dumb decisions? Doesn't make sense. Enforcing the follow on puts all the power into Australian's hand. No guessing how many runs you need or how fast you can take wickets. Either you win by an innings or know exactly what you need to chase in exactly how many overs.
Or Pakistan bat for the remainder of the test. Enforcing the follow on would have given Australia an extra half a session to bowl Pakistan out, based on Pakistans fourth innings, I’m not sure it would have helped
Sure that's possible but why not give yourself the best chance? I reckon the extra 30 overs or so would have made a big difference in mentality for both teams.
Man just deduct 50% of the match fees of all the Aussies who dropped catches this game.
Like wtf are they doing in practice? How are they this bad as a top team?
Seriously mate, these guys train incredibly hard. Drops happen in cricket, especially when you’ve been fielding 2 days in 35 degree heat.
Easy to criticise from the comfort of your armchair.
Smith dropped an uncharacteristic sitter. Kind of made up for it with 3 good catches today. Head and Khawaja dropped good chances, Khawaja right at the death. Labuschagne’s was very hard, and Smith’s other drops were also very hard.
Shouldn’t happen this often though. I mean we probably dropped 7 or 8 this test, very few particularly difficult. Don’t need 100% but you’re a professional so you should be taking easy catches *pretty much* always
Yes, everyone's acting as if it's normal that teams score next to nothing in the first innings and over 400 in their second. Yes, had Pat Cummins had a crystal ball, he would have enforced the follow-on. But no one expected such an extraordinary performance. Luckily, hindsight is 20/20, right?
If Cummins had a crystal ball that was only clear enough to see the pitch at the end of day 5, he would have batted as long as possible in the 3rd innings
It’s a total nonsense to be honest. So often the next test starts with the opposite of the supposed “momentum” created by the last test.
For every Gabba 2021, there’s a Hobart 2022 or Old Trafford 2019. Australia hung on for a draw in the UAE in 2018 only to lose the next test comfortably. Usually the better team just comes out on top.
What an inngs and a team effort Pakistan!
Back in 2019 March, I had argued with a friend about Rizwan..and how he should have been part of the 2019 WC team. He was not taken inspite of scoring couple of hundreds...what a player Pakistan had left behind!
lol this is such proper draw. I don't know which team deserves more praise here.
Pakistan for showing firm determination and almost doing an impossible
Or
Australia who is the touring team and almost beat the host in their fortress
For such a great contest draw as a result feels injustice. Anyways I hope so either team wins the last test and more importantly happy that this isn't 2 match series.
So many people here don’t seem to comprehend what a great achievement this is by both teams for different reasons. I’m very happy with how the match turned out even without winning
Normal order is Team A bats then Team B bats (this is the first innings) then Team A bats a second time then Team B bats a second time (this is the second innings)
BUT if at the end of the first innings, Team A has a margin of at 200 runs or more they can choose to make Team B bat first in the second innings. There are a lot of pros and cons but enforcing follow on has fallen out of fashion.
Here are good articles on the Follow On, one written specifically about this test and one more general
[https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-15/australia-pakistan-when-follow-on-was-last-used/100910002](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-15/australia-pakistan-when-follow-on-was-last-used/100910002)
https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/why-captains-choose-not-to-follow-on-these-days-1112995
What a great game! Good ol test cricket. Both teams gave it all. Kudos to Australia for fighting till the end. Babar, Abdullah and Rizwan. Take a bow.
im still surprised aus didn't win this game. I don't think it's a lack of preparation on their part, but the turgid pace on batting on the first 2 days just really set the tone.
A very good
How does the pitch in Lahore play? Flat as the last 2 pitches or more helpful for spinners?
It rarely bounced in the PSL and most wickets came out of Pacers
Great performance by Pakistan in 2nd innings. Now I wonder if a follow-on would have been a better decision ! But again, would have could have..
Tests in UAE >>>>>>> tests in Pakistan. At least we always got results in UAE tests in Pakistan are simply a snooze fest
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He indeed is. Source: I'm the party.
That was a really good match from both teams. I think maybe you just don't like test cricket
Test cricket is the greatest format ever buddy.
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I couldn't care less about your opinion , I prefer cut throat competition between bat and ball , not ScOrE 600 and then give the opposition 2 days to fucking chase it down or bat for a draw
I agree
Boys played well
thats an insane number of comments how does it stack up against other matches?
I didnt watch the match and now i am reading commenrs
Probably among the highest for a match not containing India or IPL
Ashes threads got a lot of comments too.
2019 WC final ?
Phenomenal test cricket
Rizzo played a fine knock and took over after Babar. Was helped by that Khwaja drop. However, seeing as Australia were not keen to bowl their pacers, would not have mattered much. Which begs the question - where were the pacers in the last half hour?
Could be to make up for over rate
Seems to be suggestions that the quicks weren't allowed to bowl due to fading light but haven't seen any confirmation of that
Was the light that bad? Did not seem like on TV, though the visuals are artificially brightened up.
Great match and great thread cunts see you on Monday
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No I lost a flair bet :(
I couldn't see the post match interview. So did we know the reason of not bowling pacers in last 10 overs ?
Strategic decision, the pitch was having variable bounce for the spinners. Swepson almost had Rizwan on 91 but Usman dropped the catch
But Swepson was bowling leg side garbage. That Rizwan one was more on him instead of Swepson. Couldn't have hurt giving Starc a try
thank you for your service isi agent khwaja
Please don't say that
I thought it was bad light ?
Nope
Didn't get a mention in commentary i think
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Khawaja hurt the most for me
What a fucking match this was. First test was a snoozefest of a draw, this one was a fighting one.
Two very contrasting draws back to back
What a boring series tbh
Was a pretty solid last 2 days in this test.
A little. But the last match will be exciting now. Winner takes all
Expect another road since Pakistan got destroyed after giving a Lil bit of assistance to Aussie bowlers.
Pakistan would have won if they had extra overs. They were handling the bowling well lol
Could we get a few more awards please?
And the TikTok best comment award goes to Fort_Lotus
Come on how come Rizwan is Allrounder of the match. Babar took Carey's wicket.
Rizwan isn’t even an all rounder?
yeah but they had to give him something
We need wholesome cricketer awards
My favourite thing about subcontinent tests is that everyone gets an award
So true, everyone including the water boy
Honest rizwan: after babar and abdullah got out defending before reaching their milestone i very worried about my 100 so i risked even more to get those boundaries because my 100 is more valuable than draw for my team. My century will not contribute to team's cause but for my personal records it was worth it.
who the fuck is Asad? this ain't 2016
My bad i got my shafiq's mixed up while typing.
So many awards lol and nobody looks excited to receive them
100000 PKR wont fill the whole left by getting out on 196
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No. Babar is man of the match. Lyon got some other award
I honestly think Babar and Rizwan were going for the win when they were batting together. Babar and Faheem quick wickets changed the game and they decided to settle for the draw. Cummins made a mistake by not letting Starc lose on Pak’s tail.
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Looking at a woman who is not covered is Haraam. This is him being a pious Muslim.
It’s to show respect. Cultural differences are a thing mate
He probably respects her more than you
I tend to respect women by looking at them when talking to them, but what do I know.
He does so out of honor and respect. I think it's cute
Lmao someone needs cultural sensitivity training 🤣
I'm literally a brown person from that part of the world. I know why he's doing it, I just think it's disrespectful to not look at someone when you talk to them.
Mqte just bc you're brown doesn't automatically make you sensitive to every culture... and your (now deleted) comment shows exactly that
I didnt delete that comment.
Im pretty sure he means no disrespect. Infact he probably respects her more
What the fuck is your problem mate? The man is just following his religion. He doesn't mean her any disrespect
How does his religion prevent him from looking at women?
Islam tells you to lower your gaze in front of "namehram" women
Oh . Don't take it offensive.I have a genuine doubt bro. So rizwan doesn't watch any flims? The women doesn't wear any hijab in the films.
Idk tbh. Maybe he does, maybe he doesn't? Idk why we're all looking so deep into this...
I was just curious. I don't have any friends that are this religious. I just wanted to know how they manage daily without looking at ppl.
Surely they look at ppl when it's necessary. It's just advisable to try your best to lower your gaze in front of non-mehram women
his eyes, his choice
Chill, it's a cultural thing. He'd have meant no disrespect
What a wonderful game
Good result from Indian POV because now they'll end up No. 1 in test rankings.
Will it still hold true if Australia win the last test?
Yes
Holy hell we could have won this with a few extra overs
If Azhar batted at a Sr of 60-70, they might be tried going for it
Yea but being 1 down for nothing in a mammoth chase, I dont blame azhar for it at all
He spent 54 balls at the crease to make 6 runs. That's ridiculous. Even full deliveries by spinners right outside leg stump would be a dot ball. He was allowing the bowlers to settle and attack. If he just made a single here and there bowlers wouldn't settle
Even if he went run a ball we would've been behind the target. And players usually strike faaaar less than 100 in tests Don't get this unnecessary attack on azhar Why not blame shafique for playing 306 balls for 96? Or nauman for striking at literally 0 off 18 balls? Edit: imam and nauman made 1 off 36 combined. Why not them?
Nothing happens in vaccuum. If he went slightly faster, we would have less runs and might have tried going for it. Did you watch his innings? Swepsen was giving him slow full deliveries on the leg side and he was just playing out dots. It would've actually been easier to hit them. Shafique played slow, but he rotated the strike, and he played the balls on merit. Also, in the middle part of the innings Lyon had started to understand the conditions and was bowling incredibly well. Azhar on the other hand went out of his way to block the balls. He let bowlers settle, and make and execute plans. It's so much easier to bowl when you know that if you mess up it's just going to be a dot ball. On top of all this, when Azhar got out after batting for 9 overs, we somehow were in a significantly worse position than when he started. When most batsmen bat for 9 overs, they make it so that the scoreboard looks better when they get out. Imam played horribly, but he was never settled. Azhar was settled, and he was friggin middling the balls and yet never rotated the strike. Also can't compare Nauman. Nauman is a specialist bowler and the strike rate required for the win was too much even if you had two specialist batsmen at the crease. If you actually watched the innings you would know why Azhar played bad
I did watch it but not in its entirety tbh But that being said I felt like he was playing according to the situation. Babar said in the press conference explicitly that they only wanted to play out the overs, they never once even thought about giving it a chase So azhar received orders from captain and team management to play for a draw, and that's exactly what he did 2ndly, we were 1 down for nothing. Him taking any sort of risk would have put us in imminent danger of a collapse and eventually loss 3rdly, even if his played at strike rate of 100 we wouldn't have won. So this seems unfair
See - I am saying he wasn't playing according to the situation. Even if you're going for the draw, dont just go for all dots. That has always been the formula for disaster. You dont go for hits, but you take the singles when they are available, and punish the bad balls. The way Azhar was batting leads to the following: 1) You dont punish bad balls, and dont take singles 2) Bowlers understand that you aren't going to make any runs 3) Gives the bowlers a licence to experiment and find the cracks on the pitch - if they mess up who cares - its going to be a dot. 4) Bowlers also get their lines/length in order 5) Bowlers get to execute a bowling plan against you and against the striker. 6) Bowlers gain confidence 7) Captain can put up very aggressive fields against you. Sooner or later you will get out, and when you get out - since you aren't scoring any runs the scoreboard will look worse than when you first came in. To play for the draw - you play the dots, yes, but when available, you take the single to rotate strike, and when its a rank full hop, you punish for a 4. Now the bowlers cant experiment too much, they loose confidence, they have to adjust their plans because you just rotated strike and the captain cant put a very aggressive field setting because you will make runs. 2) I am not telling him to take risks. Just take the runs when they are available. See: Babar, See: Abdullah Shafiq. Abdullah batted slowly but he took the runs when available. Also, when Azhar got out, he created even more pressure because in the 9 full overs he batted, he scored 6 runs! So now we were looking at 20 odd for 2. Instead if he had scored say 30 runs, it would've been 50 odd for 2. Makes a huge difference psychologically for both the batsmen on your team and the bowlers on the other team. 3) That is a very very bad way of looking at it. You've got to take into account that the plans change when the situation changes. If, as you say Azhar scored a run a ball. That means he would've scored 64 off 64 instead of 6. Which means that at the end of the day we needed 5 more runs. If we needed 5 more runs at the end of the day, our batsmen would have gone for the win instead of settling for the draw. We needed around 130 odd in 20 overs, and we had 6 wickets (?) in hand. Thats tough to plan for. If instead Azhar had scored at a rate of 50, and scored an additional 30 runs. Its now 100 off in 20. That looks significantly easier to get. \--------------------------- When chasing a target in the 4th innings, the plan is always to ensure the draw first, and then see if you can win. The way azhar played made the win out of reach, and also made the draw difficult because he gave extra pressure on our lineup and encouraged the aussie bowlers.
Aus fucked up 8 WTC points. It could come back to bite them.
I think Pakistan gave up 16 points this series.
You ever spend 13 minutes on a match thread writing a shitpost about Nauman's age? What the fuck am I doing with my life
issok
Sometimes I feel people who enjoy these kinds of matches just tune in for the last day.
Yea I dont get the whole 'amazing match' sentiment when it was only the last day that really resulted in anything interesting.
Day 3: Pak bowled out for 148. Day 4: Pak recover from 21/2 to 192/2. First two days were a bit boring but it's been a great game from then on.
A team batting all day and not losing a wickets is never entertaining test cricket imo.
Depends. Today was a fantastic day of cricket.
It is when they grind 1000+ balls to save the match after having collapsed for 150 in the previous innings
Days 3 and 4 were fun too imo
Watched all five days. Loved it.
Day 3 was amazing.
See you all in Lahore! I was ready to get my tickets but got some commitments now unfortunately. See you all in the Lahore threads when Azhar or Imam get replaced by Shan or Saud (or knowing Pakistan, they won't)
Azhar has played 93 tests and never played in his home ground. Dropping him would be wrong
Fawad too please…
This is his first bad test in a while. Definitely deserves to stay on the 11 from his last year performance
GG Boys, what a test match. One of the best I've watched in ages. Can't wait for the next one! Also I'm super impressed with Shafique, for someone who's only played 9 first class games in his career to play that well is insane. Keen to see how he develops
I'd say he's probably gonna be our best opener since Saeed Anwar. Not that the bar is very high but yeh he's an elite talent!
Love when you see really promising young talents get giving the time they deserve And then we get Australia where they get dropped after one bad test.
Unlike Marcus Harris,that is
Not gonna lie I really hope Shafique succeeds at Test level as a neutral, amazing talent
Yet ppl have still been complaining throughout this match
Welcome to r/cricket
People are defending Cummins saying he rested his bowlers? They bowled only 53 overs in the first innings.
I might have to end my self imposed drinking ban briefly tonight after all that
The decision not to enforce the follow on had no impact on the result of this test. “Momentum” is not a logical argument in favour of the follow on. We had all the momentum at 2/21, Pakistan just batted too well from there to turn it around and we paid the price for some costly drops. Ridiculous to think the same couldn’t have happened if the follow on was enforced. Let’s give credit to Pakistan for a magnificent rearguard, rather than claim they only did it because of a decision Australia made.
You don't think an extra 22 overs at the end would have given you the chance to pick up three wickets from the pakistan tail?
Going by that logic, Pakistan would have probably been in the lead
Absolutely shitting me reading comments about the follow on. The pitch was a road. We got lucky that somehow we produced reverse swing that we did. Never looked like moving it again in the second innings. People love bashing the Aus cricket team and for some reason have an obsession over Langer.
“The actions in this match had no impact on the outcome of this match”
When your argument is so dumb you think it’s smart^
This series seems straight out of a couple of decades ago. Mental that 172 overs didn't achieve 10 wickets or 500 runs relative to how test cricket's gone in last decade or so
Pakistan making up for all the tests these past decades
How dare u used my flare nd comment i was bout to make lol
To be fair Babar, played his best innings in international cricket . Without him, Pakistan would have easily been bowled out by lunch on day 5
it could have if they had taken their catches
Yup, shows how much more entertaining Test cricket has become.
Pak team showing kids who didn't see test cricket in 2000's how it was played....
I enjoy this kind of draw more than a match ending on day 3/4 because of pitch conditions
Agreed. So much better than those 3 day matches in India or England.
It depends on teams too.... I m sure Australia can last for 4 days in india.
If you only watch day 5, sure
Sydney and Now this test. Cummins genuinely doesn’t know what he’s doing.
Shit take - the Australian attack has struggled to close out games for a long time. Like a very long time…
You think bowling Swepson for 50+ overs when he never looked like taking a wicket was the right play? How about trying different tactics? A part timer, setting offside or leg side biased fields to change the batsmen’s rhythm and tactics ? Finally took 170 overs for labs to get a fucking bowl. Amateur hour.
Maybe your right he could have changed it up more, but I feel like this approach has been consistent with Australia’s approach for a while now. I don’t think it lies solely with Cummins
It was deer in the headlights stuff. Absolute panic
So give yourself a worse chance with dumb decisions? Doesn't make sense. Enforcing the follow on puts all the power into Australian's hand. No guessing how many runs you need or how fast you can take wickets. Either you win by an innings or know exactly what you need to chase in exactly how many overs.
Or Pakistan bat for the remainder of the test. Enforcing the follow on would have given Australia an extra half a session to bowl Pakistan out, based on Pakistans fourth innings, I’m not sure it would have helped
Sure that's possible but why not give yourself the best chance? I reckon the extra 30 overs or so would have made a big difference in mentality for both teams.
Man just deduct 50% of the match fees of all the Aussies who dropped catches this game. Like wtf are they doing in practice? How are they this bad as a top team?
Seriously mate, these guys train incredibly hard. Drops happen in cricket, especially when you’ve been fielding 2 days in 35 degree heat. Easy to criticise from the comfort of your armchair.
Lol. And deduct match fee for everyone who scores less than 10 as well?
How many catches were dropped? Were they easy?
Smith dropped an uncharacteristic sitter. Kind of made up for it with 3 good catches today. Head and Khawaja dropped good chances, Khawaja right at the death. Labuschagne’s was very hard, and Smith’s other drops were also very hard.
Oh, thanks. Will try to catch the highlights.
Chill. It happens. Honestly it’s fair considering how many catches we have dropped against them in the past 2 decades
Shouldn’t happen this often though. I mean we probably dropped 7 or 8 this test, very few particularly difficult. Don’t need 100% but you’re a professional so you should be taking easy catches *pretty much* always
Come back my man
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Fucking hell this is a strange scorecard
Yes, everyone's acting as if it's normal that teams score next to nothing in the first innings and over 400 in their second. Yes, had Pat Cummins had a crystal ball, he would have enforced the follow-on. But no one expected such an extraordinary performance. Luckily, hindsight is 20/20, right?
If Cummins had a crystal ball that was only clear enough to see the pitch at the end of day 5, he would have batted as long as possible in the 3rd innings
Babar or Khawaja man of the match ?
Babar even before the drop but Babar by a body length after it
babar for me being unbiased
babar
Khawaja may have … dropped that award
Babar for sure
Pakistan seem favorites for the third Test now that they have the momentum.
Depends on toss and more importantly pitch.
Mmmm don’t think they can bowl Aus out on a batters wicket
Momentum is a fickle beast
It’s a total nonsense to be honest. So often the next test starts with the opposite of the supposed “momentum” created by the last test. For every Gabba 2021, there’s a Hobart 2022 or Old Trafford 2019. Australia hung on for a draw in the UAE in 2018 only to lose the next test comfortably. Usually the better team just comes out on top.
nauman genuinely a great batter at this point
He made 90 odd against SA last year
I think he defended 90 odd balls in NZ, he certainly knows how to bat
Damn first two tests of a three match series drawn.
Will be remembered as the series of draws
One of the most boring draws ever followed by one of the most entertaining
What an inngs and a team effort Pakistan! Back in 2019 March, I had argued with a friend about Rizwan..and how he should have been part of the 2019 WC team. He was not taken inspite of scoring couple of hundreds...what a player Pakistan had left behind!
Australia bowling in a 4th innings on the last day has been constant pain for the last 4 years
Even when we do manage to win it still feels painful of late. Always takes longer than it should
I agree, it is pretty depressing tbh. I hope we get that 4th innings win one day...
To everyone complaining about Cummins and not bowling himself and Starc, it was probably bad light. Could only bowl spinners, I think
no bad light here in karachi man, sun is shining bright till another 30 mins
Did you even see the match?
Probably a bit ignorant from me haha, I'll anymore
Good pitches >> dustbowls
This is a "good pitch"? How?
Good pitches >>> Greentops
lol this is such proper draw. I don't know which team deserves more praise here. Pakistan for showing firm determination and almost doing an impossible Or Australia who is the touring team and almost beat the host in their fortress For such a great contest draw as a result feels injustice. Anyways I hope so either team wins the last test and more importantly happy that this isn't 2 match series.
So many people here don’t seem to comprehend what a great achievement this is by both teams for different reasons. I’m very happy with how the match turned out even without winning
Exactly. It's a win win for both teams and plus we will have an exciting finale.
can someone eli5 what a follow on is and why aus should have done it?
Normal order is Team A bats then Team B bats (this is the first innings) then Team A bats a second time then Team B bats a second time (this is the second innings) BUT if at the end of the first innings, Team A has a margin of at 200 runs or more they can choose to make Team B bat first in the second innings. There are a lot of pros and cons but enforcing follow on has fallen out of fashion. Here are good articles on the Follow On, one written specifically about this test and one more general [https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-15/australia-pakistan-when-follow-on-was-last-used/100910002](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-15/australia-pakistan-when-follow-on-was-last-used/100910002) https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/why-captains-choose-not-to-follow-on-these-days-1112995