DUBAI: Today’s Test cricket may not be on the postcard, but you will find it in the manual. In a couple of sessions that typified the recipe for success Pakistan have replicated time and again in the UAE, excitement may have been in short supply, but determination and patience weren’t. After the wobbles in the final session on the first day, Haris Sohail and Asad Shafiq dug their heals in as Pakistan ground their way beyond 400 as the visitors saw the game slip further out of reach. As tea was taken, Haris sat on a career-best score, unbeaten on 88. A gem of a ball from debutant and part-time legspinner Marnus Labuschagne took Shafiq’s outside edge ten minutes before tea with the batsman 20 runs shy of a hundred, ensuring the visitors would not endure another wicketless session, reported Cricinfo.
The afternoon’s play wasn’t quite as soporific as the morning’s, but Pakistan still took an approach that wore down the opposition rather than blitzed them into submission. As Australia took the new ball after lunch, delayed likely because Mitchell Starc wasn’t up for another full-throttle spell before lunch, Tim Paine would have known they needed to make immediate breakthroughs if there was to be any chance of keeping Pakistan this side of 400. In the UAE, Pakistan have won seven and drawn one of the eight matches they have reached that figure in in the first innings.
As it happened, Starc’s salvo was somewhat toothless, with the ball doing nothing to perturb the settled batsmen. Just as in the first session, Pakistan bade their time, before upping the ante towards tea as the bowlers began to tire. After scoring just 45 runs in the first 18 overs post-lunch, they nearly doubled that number, scoring 43 off the last nine. Nathan Lyon and Peter Siddle, both workhorses in the attack at the moment, never quite fell away, but Pakistan continued to pick off the inexperienced Jon Holland; targeting him appears to be a clear gameplan.
In desperation, perhaps, Paine turned to Labuschagne. The second ball of his first over was a full-toss above waist height, in no way a harbinger of the next delivery. Pitched just outside off stump, the ball turned sharply, with Shafiq only able to get an edge to it as he stretched out to defend. Yasir Shah, Pakistan’s legspinner, will have taken notice.
The first hour of play today would have left you reaching for an extra cup of coffee; adrenaline wasn’t going to be the stimulant here. Once Peter Siddle cleaned up Mohammad Abbas early on, Pakistan gritted their teeth and ground their way along, determined to draw the sting out of the momentum Australia had built up over since the evening session on the first day. They did that superbly, even if Pakistan didn’t at first make much progress by way of runs – only 7 were scored in the day’s first 11 overs, and it took Asad Shafiq 21 balls to get off the mark.
The urgency, however, would have been felt more in Australia’s camp. These are tough conditions to be out in the field for, bowling to batsmen whose reserves of patience don’t look close toe exhausted just yet. Starc bowled 21 overs yesterday and looked like he was carrying a niggle by the end, and wasn’t quite as effective in the five he delivered today. Siddle’s medium-pace face was sent to alleviate the fast bowlers’ workload, while Mitchell Marsh was expensive and looked rusty when called upon. The last half hour saw Pakistan seize upon Australia’s fatigue, and punished them when their lengths missed the mark. More than half the runs Pakistan scored this session – 41 – came in the last nine overs.
The first five sessions have gone almost perfectly for Pakistan in Dubai. If the Aussies can overcome that handicap, they will have made history. It’s hardly an ideal position to be in.