MELBOURNE, 29 December 2023: Australia today won the series and defeated Pakistan by 78 runs in the 2nd test, in the extra half hour. Pakistan chased a target of 317, starting at 139 with three wickets down, collapsed at 237 despite a determined effort, decimated by Australian pace bowling.
The 2nd test held at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), saw 18,029 people attending the match on day-4. On day-1 62,167 attended, day-2 44,837 and on day-3 39,802 people attended.
Pakistan and Australia will face each other at Sydney Cricket Ground from 3 to 7 January 2024 for the last Test of the Benaud-Qadir Trophy.
ANI adds:
Cummins claimed a five-wicket haul each in both innings against the visitors which played a crucial role in Australia’s series win over the Asian Giants.
With 10 wickets to his name in a single Test, Cummins eclipsed former Australia spinner Richard Benaud’s tally of 248 wickets and moved to the 10th spot with 252 wickets to his name.
Cummins also has the second-best average with 22.32 in Australia’s top 10 leading wicket-takers in Test format. Only iconic Glenn McGrath who sits second on the list with 563 wickets has a better average than him (21.64).
The leading wicket-taker for Australia in red-ball cricket is the legendary spinner Shane Warner with 708 wickets in his kitty.
Cummins finished with a 10-wicket match haul in Australia’s 79-run win while Starc returned with 4/55 and both pacers bowled a hostile spell of fast bowling to take the host to a second consecutive triumph.
With this victory, the hosts have now taken an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series.
Pakistan fought till the last but fell short as Australia completed a solid victory.
Starting the last session at 129/3, Pakistan were given some hope by Saud Shakeel and Babar Azam as both batters were decisive in their approach. In the 41st over of the game, Josh Hazlewood delivered an absolute stunner to remove well-set batter Babar for 41.
When Mohammad Rizwan and Agha Salman joined for an adventurous 57-run combination, the topsy-turvy battle seemed to be heading for a dramatic finale.
Pakistan were 219 for 5 and needed 98 runs for a series-levelling victory as the match seemed poised to be a cliffhanger.
However, Rizwan attempted to sway out of the path of Cummins’ short delivery and dropped his wrists as the ball sailed by. Rizwan looked disappointed that the DRS decision had been reversed as Cummins celebrated his 250th Test wicket. The pacer then had Aamer Jamal caught and bowled shortly after.
In the subsequent 30 minutes, Cummins went on to dismiss Shaheen Shah Afridi, his tenth wicket. It rounded off another epic effort by Cummins, who had turned the match on its head late on day two with a splendid spell that included a gem of a ball to bowled Babar Azam. Starc claimed Salman and Mir Hamza in consecutive deliveries as Pakistan were bundled out for 237.
Australia 318 all out, 96.5 overs (Marnus Labuschagne 63, Usman Khawaja 42, Mitchell Marsh 41; Aamir Jamal 3-64, Mir Hamza 2-51, Hasan Ali 2-61, Shaheen Shah Afridi 2-85, Salman Ali Agha 1-22) and 262 all out, 84.1 overs (Mitchell Marsh 96, Alex Carey 63, Steven Smith 50; Mir Hamza 4-32, Shaheen Shah Afridi 4-76, Aamir Jamal 2-74)
Pakistan 264 all out, 73.5 overs (Abdullah Shafique 62, Shan Masood 54, Mohammad Rizwan 42; Pat Cummins 5-48, Nathan Lyon 4-73, Josh Hazlewood 1-43) and 237 all out, 67.2 overs (Shan Masood 60, Salman Ali Agha 50, Babar Azam 41; Pat Cummins 5-49, Mitchell Starc 4-55, Josh Hazlewood 1-34)
Player of the match – Pat Cummins (Australia).
