The Gabba remained unbreached as Australia wrapped up a win within four days, kickstarting their summer on a bright note. Pakistan, who made Australia work hard for that win on Sunday (November 24), were bowled out eventually for 355, conceding a win by an innings and 5 runs in Brisbane. This was Pakistan’s fifth consecutive loss away from home, while Australia maintained their unbeaten record at the Gabba, not having lost a Test here since 1988.
Not many would’ve given Pakistan a chance to even drag the game along for as long as they did after having been reduced to 25/3 in the final session, on Saturday. Babar Azam and Shan Masood staged a brave fightback to keep Australia at bay. The hard work was undone this morning as Pakistan lost two wickets in successive overs with Australia inching closer to a win. Little did they know that the actual resistance was to come thereafter.
Babar joined hands with Muhammad Rizwan and kept Pakistan afloat en route a 132-run stand – the fourth-highest sixth-wicket stand against Australia at the Gabba. They kept the runs coming, rotating the strike and were quite positive in intent. They went after Mitchell Starc’s looseners with the old ball as the partnership grew in stature. They, in fact, staged quite the counterattack, finding the boundaries regularly with the ball not doing enough for the pacers. Babar reached a deserved century – his second in Test and first in Australia.
Rizwan took on Lyon with the sweeps and was aggressive in approach to get to his maiden Test fifty. The pair milked the inconsistency of the Australian quicks to hit the line of stumps regularly. Babar was, however, eventually caught in two minds against a flatter one from Lyon, beaten for pace, ending up with a faint edge that was taken sharply by Tim Paine. Rizwan carried on unperturbed, keeping the runs flowing with Yasir Shah, who scored a career-best 42 as Pakistan kept gnawing into the deficit, with the pair adding 79. Rizwan fell short of his maiden Test ton by just 5 runs, flat-batting a short ball to deep backward point. Once the second new ball was taken, it was only a matter of time as Pakistan lost three wickets for just 11 runs for Australia to wrap up the game.
At the start of the day, Australia tightened the noose on Pakistan despite Masood and Babar’s resistance. They were positive against Lyon, keeping him from settling down, using their feet well to attack. While they negated Lyon without much fuss eventually, it was Pat Cummins who struck as Masood’s woes against the short ball continued. He tried to get under and pull one, only managing an edge to Paine.
One brought two again for Australia as Hazlewood was rewarded for his relentless line and lengths with Iftikhar Ahmed’s wicket as Pakistan lost two wickets in the opening hour and blew away a positive start. Rizwan was let-off early on when Paine put down a chance that came down the leg-side. Replays showed it had some glove, contrary to the first thought that it would’ve come off the pad. Rizwan made the let-off count. And his and Babar’s fighting knocks with the lower order ensured Pakistan left with their heads held high, even in defeat.
Brief scores: Pakistan 240 & 355 (Babar Azam 104, Mohammad Rizwan 95; Josh Hazlewood 4-63, Mitchell Starc 3-73) lost to Australia 580 (David Warner 154, Marnus Labuschagne 185; Yasir Shah 4-205, Haris Sohail 2-75) by an innings and 5 runs.
