Australian skipper Pat Cummins stated he would go away it to followers and commentators to judge a useless wicket that noticed his staff’s first Test in Pakistan in almost 1 / 4 of a century finish in a tame attract Rawalpindi on Tuesday.
“I feel the gamers all the time desire a truthful battle between bat and ball, and that’s after I assume Test cricket is at its greatest and most rewarding,” the diplomatic Cummins said when asked about a pitch that yielded 1,187 runs for just 14 wickets over five days.
Also Read: Imam Hits 2nd Hundred, Rawalpindi Run-feast Ends in a Draw
“It’s for fans and you guys (media) to kind of watch it from the outside and kind of judge the spectacle.”
Pakistan have been 252 with out loss of their second innings when the match ended with out a end result. Australia scored 459 in reply to Pakistan’s first innings rating of 476/4 declared.
“Turning as much as a pitch — most likely not a conventional pitch — you get right here in Rawalpindi and coming away with a draw, it’s not a nasty end result,” Cummins said afterwards.
It was Australia’s first Test on Pakistan soil since 1998, having declined to visit previously on security grounds.
With a draw assured, the Pakistan openers took the opportunity for batting practice ahead of the second Test in Karachi starting Saturday.
The final day was dominated by Pakistan’s openers, with Imam-ul-Haq cracking his second century of the match and Abdullah Shafique scoring a maiden hundred.
Haq made an unbeaten 111 following up his first-innings 157, while Shafique finished on 136.
In doing so, they became the first Pakistan pair to put on a century opening stand in both innings of a Test against Australia, after teaming up for 105 on Friday.
Shafique was the first to reach his century, pushing seamer Cameron Green for a single to reach the mark in 209 minutes. In all, he hit 15 boundaries and a six.
Record stand
Haq, who was playing his first Test since December 2019, pushed part-timer Travis Head for two to complete his century in 276 minutes.
Their stand is Pakistan’s highest for the first wicket against Australia in all Tests, bettering the 249 set by Khalid Ibadulla and Abdul Kadir in Karachi in 1964.
So dominating were the two openers that it became only the first instance in 51 years when Australia conceded 100-plus opening stands in both innings of a Test.
Geoff Boycott and John Edrich of England were the last pair to achieve the feat against Australia, in Adelaide in 1971.
The famed Australian pace trio of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood — with 674 Test wickets between them before this match — got just one more on the flat, lifeless surface.
Shafique said he was delighted to score a hundred.
“This century will give me confidence and step up my career,” he added.
Earlier, left-arm spinner Nauman Ali bowled a nagging line and size to mop up the Australian tail and completed with career-best figures of 6-107 in 38.1 overs — his third five-wicket haul in eight Tests.
His effort enabled Pakistan to get the final three wickets with the addition of simply 10 runs after Australia resumed on 449-7.
Nauman — whose earlier better of 5-35 got here on his debut towards South Africa in Karachi final 12 months — dismissed Australian skipper Pat Cummins for eight and Nathan Lyon for 3 in fast succession.
Left-arm pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi removed Starc to complete with figures of 2-88 in 30 overs.
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