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After the hosts were bowled out for 318, Australia’s bowlers kept Pakistan in check during the second session of Day 2 at the MCG, which came like the calm after the storm of the morning session. At 68/1, Abdullah Shafique and Shan Masood escorted the guests to the tea break.
The sun was shining brightly, but that didn’t mean that the batting conditions were perfect. The ball moved around, and bowling the correct lengths may give you an advantage. Australia repeatedly did just that to shut off the Pakistani openers early on. Following an excellent morning session in which their spinners picked seven wickets, Abdullah Shafique and Imam-ul-Haq showed no signs of hurrying.
With their superb lengths, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc asked the two hitters all the right questions and occasionally beat the outside edge. Even as the scoreboard moved very slowly, some stoic batting matched Australia’s persistent lengths. Starc said at the drinks break that there was enough surface to give the quicks opportunity to take wickets, and they continued until their spinner Nathan Lyon was rewarded. After drinks, Lyon moved the left-handed Imam forward in just the third over, getting the ball to drift in and turn sharply, giving Marnus Labuschage the outside edge at slip.
Shan Masood came out to reinforce Pakistan’s determination as he and Shafique completed nine overs, making sure they held onto the lead that their fielding and bowling had given them during a tumultuous morning session. Marnus Labuschagne started the day ready to continue his hard-charging style of cricket, but it quickly turned into a frenzied phase of play where Australia lost wickets and scored runs at an accelerated rate. Once the ball started moving, Shaheen Afridi quickly removed Travis Head, and shortly after Labuschagne reached his fifty, Aamer Jamal removed him as well.
Mitchell Marsh swung his bat about for a sixty-score off forty-one balls, but Pakistan consistently made gains because to their excellent catching. Starc, Lyon, and Cummins were all caught deep while Mohammad Rizwan dismissed Alex Carey with a brilliant one-handed diving catch to his right. Afridi, Hamza, and Hasan Ali, Pakistan’s speed trio, each claimed two wickets, while the formidable Jamal claimed three.
Brief Scores: Pakistan 68/1 trail Australia 318 (Marnus Labuschagne 63, Mitchell Marsh 41; Aamer Jamal 3-64, Mir Hamza 2-51, Hasan Ali 2-61, Shaheen Afridi 2-85) by 250 runs