Pakistan has won the Jubilee Insurance Brighto Cup 2018 Test Series Cup, putting Australia to the sword by wrapping up the second test in Abu Dhabi in just three and a half short days.

The Baggy Green’s batting line up couldn’t come close to coping with Pakistan’s bowling, especially that of Mohammed Abbas, who took a total of 10 wickets during the match.

Although starting well with a bright bowling offensive on Day 1, it was the tourists’ batting which suffered, their first innings came in at just 145, which Pakistan ruthlessly capitalised on when they set a run chase of 538 ahead of Australia’s second innings.

This left Australia reeling on Day 3 and as expected it was a bridge too far as they were only able to muster 164 all out by the time their final innings came to a close on Day 4.

Both sides came to Abu Dhabi looking to prove their worth after a draw in the first test in Dubai that left the series open to either side.

Pakistan, having won the toss, elected to bat, but it seemed that the match was slipping away from them early on after the Australian bowlers dismissed Pakistan’s openers, with Nathan Lyon taking a quick and easy four wickets, demonstrating the mastery of his famous ripping off-spin.

With Pakistan sitting on 57/5 after twenty overs, it seemed as if the game was already Australia’s. But skipper Sarfraz Ahmed led a captain’s innings alongside opener and test debutant Fakhar Zaman.

Fakhar had what was a dream start to his Test career. His performance helped to restore Pakistan’s chances by contributing an impressive 94 runs and he was unlucky to miss out on his maiden test century due to an lbw decision. Nevertheless, the tourist’s bowling had inflicted its damage on Day 1 and with a Pakistani first innings score of 282, Australia seemed poised to push home their advantage on the second day.

On Day 2 however, Pakistan’s bowlers had other ideas. Australia’s Usman Khawaja was the first of five wickets to fall to medium-fast bowler, Mohammed Abbas, which was also his fiftieth Test wicket. Shaun Marsh, Peter Siddle and Travis Head all tried and failed to resist the Pakistani bowler, and with the loss of Captain Tim Paine for three, Australia slumped to 91 for seven. Mitchell Starc mustered 34 to push Australia’s score to 145, but a yorker from Abbas struck Starc’s back foot and by the afternoon of the second day, Pakistan were pulling their pads on once again, keen to punish Australia for their first innings batting collapse.

Despite Pakistan losing Mohammed Hafeez after 13 balls, Azhar Ali strode out to bat and put on a 91 run partnership with debutant Fakhar Zaman. The Australians were frustrated when declined for an lbw coming off the pads of Azhar. Hawk-Eye indicated that the ball was impacting in line but with Azhar being over three meters away from his wicket, the decision was left to the discretion of the umpire, given the inaccuracies that can occur within the computer modelling. Captain Tim Paine unsuccessfully sought clarity from umpires Richard Illingworth and Sundaram Ravi, but given Pakistan’s extensive lead, the ruling had a negligible impact on Australia’s fortunes.

Nathan Lyon, saw his 20,000^th ball bowled in Test cricket in the second innings and made an incredible catch off his own bowling when dismissing Fakhar for 66. However the moment of the day belonged to Azhar whose dismissal for 64 lit up social media. Having thought he’d registered a boundary edging Peter Siddle to third man, Azhar struck up conversation with Asad Shafiq in the middle of the pitch. It in fact transpired that the ball had just come up short of the boundary, and Azhar was left red-faced as Australian captain Tim Paine gleefully whipped off the bails. Despite the farce with which the wicket fell, Pakistan’s already substantial lead allowed the players to see the funny side.

Speaking afterwards, Azhar was able to make light of his dismissal saying:

“Yeah, I was definitely annoyed with myself. You don’t want to give a snip to a team like Australia. At that time, it was disappointing and shocking. But thankfully, the other batsman went in and did the job, and we laughed about it afterwards.”

Following Azhar’s dismissal, Babar Azam, was able to spend the afternoon amassing his highest ever Test score. He was on the cusp of his maiden Test century, when he was heartbreakingly dismissed by a ball from Mitchell Marsh for 99 runs. However, Pakistan’s lead was now over the 500 mark and not long after Captain Sarfraz departed for 81. Back in the changing room the Skipper called time on Pakistan’s innings, and they declared on 400 for 9, bringing Australia out to bat ahead of the close of day three.

Australia started their final innings with a colossal 538 runs to chase and without Usman Khawaja, after the left-handed bastman sustained an injury to his Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) during a throwing drill on Day 3. Therefore it was decided that Shaun Marsh was to open the batting and he was the only wicket to fall ahead of Thursday evening when he was dismissed for four having just faced six balls.

Come Friday morning despite the loss of only one wicket, Australia’s chances of victory still looked far beyond them.

This was once again proven on Day 4 as man of the moment Mohammad Abbas clinically set about dismantling Australia. Head mustered 36, before being caught by substitute wicket keeper Rizwan off a ball from Abbas. Mitchell Marsh followed Head out of the changing room only to quickly follow him back in five balls later after Hawk-Eye confirmed Abbas’ ball hit his back leg.

Finch managed 31 off 61 balls, but Abbas struck again with a plumb lbw delivery, leaving the umpire with an easy decision to make. Tim Paine then came to the crease and was dismissed after just three balls when an Abbas’ ball surgically removed the captain’s off stump clean from the ground, to remove him for a duck.

Yasir Shah then joined in on the fun, taking out Starc for 28 before following up with Siddle for just three, bringing Australia to 155 for 7 by lunch. After the break, Labuschagne was Abbas’ fifth wicket of the day, again caught behind by Rizwan. Yasir though enjoyed the final wicket of the series after Jon Holland was caught at slip by Haris Sohail for three, giving Pakistan the victory they had been waiting for all morning.

During the final press conference of the test series on Friday afternoon, Pakistan’s winning captain Sarfraz Ahmed looked back on his side’s performance, and said:

“The way Abbas bowled was the difference between the two teams. He hits his areas impeccably which makes him successful. Congrats to Fakhar too for a superb debut. Credit to the boys and thankfully my first innings performance was able to inspire the team. (Looking ahead) Australia are a strong T20 team. (We) will have to play well.”

Things were obviously harder to put into words for Australia’s losing captain Tim Paine, he commented:

“Disappointing to let things slip from the first session on Day 1. Our bowlers toiled pretty well on that wicket. It’s just our batting. Abbas just challenges your defence. We weren’t good enough to keep him out for long.”

A badly bruised Australia walk away from the test series and now look ahead to their return to the Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi next Wednesday 24^th October to face Pakistan in the first of three international T20 competitions. Play commences at 8pm, with tickets starting from 25AED.

Facebook: www.facebook.com/AbuDhabiCricket

Twitter: www.twitter.com/AbuDhabiCricket 

Instagram: www.instagram.com/AbuDhabiCricket

#AbuDhabiCricket
#EverydayIsGameDay