Pakistan lost 7 wickets for 20 runs in their first innings on the third day of the third match of the Test series against Australia. The score of the hosts was three wickets for 248 at one time. Seeing this, there was such a storm in the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore in 62 balls that the Pakistan team was all out for 268. In this innings, Azhar Ali also completed seven thousand runs of his Test career.
After 106.2 overs, Pakistan’s score was three wickets for 248 runs. Captain Babar Azam and the experienced Fawad Alam were at the crease. Suddenly on the next ball, Alam was clean bowled by Mitchell Starc. Seeing what was then, the host team collapsed like a pack of cards. The entire team was reduced to 268 runs in 116.4 overs. Opener Abdullah Shafiq was the top scorer with 81 runs.
Pakistan collapses in the storm of Cummins and Starc
Australian captain Pat Cummins took five wickets for 56 runs. On the other hand, Mitchell Starc took four wickets for just 33 runs. Starc clean bowled the Pakistani batsmen in his three wickets out of four. He was seen bowling sharply for the first time on this tour. Kangaroo team scored 391 runs in the first innings. The hosts were able to score 268 runs and trailed by 123 runs.
Azhar Ali’s entry in Pakistan’s top-5 batsmen
37-year-old Azhar Ali contributed 78 runs in this innings against Australia. As soon as he scored the 74th run, he also completed 7 thousand runs of his Test career. He became the fifth batsman for Pakistan to do so. Before him, only Javed Miandad (8832), Inzamam-ul-Haq (8829), Mohammad Yusuf (7530) and Younis Khan (10099) had done so. Also Azhar became the world’s 54th player to score 7000 Test runs.
Azhar Ali now has 7004 runs in 173 innings of 94 Test matches at an average of 43.23. He has one triple century and 19 centuries to his name. Apart from this, he has also scored 35 half-centuries. With Azhar joining this special club, the legendary Pakistani cricketer Salim Malik has also surpassed Misbah-ul-Haq and Zaheer Abbas.