Pakistan 76-0 at lunch as first Test against Australia heads for draw
Pakistan’s first home Test against Australia in nearly a quarter of a century headed for a tame draw with the hosts 76 without loss at lunch on the fifth and final day on Tuesday.
Imamul Haq was unbeaten on 40 and fellow opener Abdullah Shafique on 33 after Australia were dismissed for 459 in their first innings in Rawalpindi.
Pakistan, now leading by 93, were 476-4 declared in their first innings.
Australia are on their first tour of Pakistan since 1998, having previously refused to tour over security fears.
But hopes of a result have been thwarted by a Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium pitch that has offered little to the bowlers since day one.
Left-arm spinner Nauman Ali bowled a nagging line and length to mop up the Australian tail early on Tuesday and finish 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 last three wickets with the addition of just 10 runs after Australia resumed on 449-7.
Nauman — whose previous best of 5-35 came on his debut against South Africa in Karachi last year — dismissed Australian skipper Pat Cummins for eight and Nathan Lyon for three in quick succession.
Left-arm pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi got rid of Mitchell Starc to finish with figures of 2-88 in 30 overs.
Australia reached 449-7 at stumps in its first innings on day four (Monday) on a grassless wicket with Marnus Labuschagne (90) and Steve Smith (78) scoring half-centuries.
During Australia’s innings, Cameroon Green (48) showed himself to be a Test all-rounder by spending more than two hours at the crease, facing 109 balls.
Mitchell Starc, who bats at number eight, spent almost the last hour and was not out on 12 with skipper Pat Cummins not out on four as stumps were drawn three overs before scheduled because of bad light.
Pakistan had declared its first innings at 476-4 late on day 2 on the back of big centuries from Azhar Ali (185) and Imamul Haq (157).
“There’s not a great deal of pace and bounce in [the wicket] for the seamers, that’s for sure,” Smith had said. “I thought it would break up a little bit more and probably turn a bit more from the start, but it probably hasn’t done so.”
Opening batter Usman Khawaja narrowly missed out on a century in the country of his birth on Sunday when he was dismissed for 97, but shared a rapid 156-run opening wicket stand with David Warner, who made 68.
Labuschagne was the second Australian batsman to fall in the 90s when he was caught in the slip in Shaheen Afridi’s (1-80) third over with the new ball after a wet outfield following overnight rain prevented any play in the first session.
Labuschagne hit 12 boundaries in his knock but attempted a drive off a wide delivery from Afridi as Abdullah Shafique grabbed a well-judged low catch in the lone slip.
Smith, who hasn’t scored a Test century since the 2019 Ashes, batted for nearly five hours, hitting eight fours during his 196-ball knock before he was nicely set up by Nauman to go for an over-ambitious shot.
“Pretty annoying, I got a bit greedy with the field they had set,” Smith said on missing out on his 100. “Disappointed to have worked pretty hard and got myself in a nice position to go on and get a big score.”
