In their first of two Test matches, Australia beat Pakistan by a huge margin. This, however, could have been avoided.
The Australian National Cricket team beat Pakistan by an innings and 5 runs in their first-of-two Test matches in Brisbane. Despite Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan’s best efforts, they could not prevent a loss to a dominant Australia team. However, they could have performed far better or even possibly won had their top order exerted more effort.
Babar Azam scored 104 runs while Rizwan fell five runs short of scoring hist first Test century. Shan Masood and Yasir Shah scored 42 runs each as the team was only able to score 335 runs overall. As for the Aussie bowlers, Josh Hazlewood picked four wickets off 63 balls, Starc got three off 73, and Pat Cummins took two wickets.
The young Pakistani bowlers, Shaheen Shah Afridi (19 years old) and Naseem Shah (16 years old) worked together with Imran Khan to give the Aussies some trouble with their pace bowling. What came as a surprise for most was the fact that Mohammad Abbas, the former number one Test bowler, was not picked to be part of the playing XI.
‘I was pretty happy Abbas didn’t play if I’m totally honest. In the UAE on wickets that offered him nothing, he made it move around. They say he may be injured but I’m sure he’ll be looked at pretty closely for the next Test. Our guys know how good he is’, said Australian captain Tim Paine. He was, in a way, happy that Abbas didn’t play because he knew what the player was capable of.
Abbas’ team also admitted that they had a difficult time without him. Abbas, who currently has 62 wickets in 14 Test matches, averages 18.86 and has a strike rate of 46.00. ‘Yes, we miss Abbas as he did well in the last series against Australia. It is the team’s decision to drop Abbas and they decided that these three (Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, and Imran Khan) are playing’, said Yasir Shah in a post-match interview.
After facing Pakistan, Australia will face New Zealand in three Test matches. To find out more about Australia future matches, visit Betwala’s page.
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