AUS vs PAK | Twitter reacts as Imam-ul-Haq tests newly-minted skipper's backbone with lethal strike
Perhaps the last thing a Test veteran expects on his captaincy debut is to be violently assaulted by a fellow senior player but that is exactly how things played out in Perth. Imam-ul-Haq's ferocious strike down the pitch caught Shan Masood off guard and left him mincing in pain with a bruised back.
Pakistan held their guard admirably in tough conditions at the Optus Stadium on Friday while chasing a first innings total of 487. Two half-century stands had them well-stationed at 114/1 with half an hour of play remaining on Day 2, albeit the latter came in one-third the time compared to the opening stand. Skipper Shan Masood was largely the one to deserve credit as he took on the Australian attack with ferocity while Imam-ul-Haq continued to bide his team, maintaining a strike rate well under 25. However, when the opener finally did take inspiration from his captain and decided to break the shackles, he only ended up compounding his team's misery in unexpected ways.
Imam was unbeaten on 27 off 110 balls when Nathan Lyon took the ball for the 43rd over of the innings and kicked off the battle with three consecutive dot balls. When Lyon floated the ensuing delivery a bit fuller, Imam uncharacteristically took the invitation to dance down the track and bludgeoned a lofted straight drive down the trick with the ball coming off his bat at over 120 clicks. However, Masood at the non-striker's end who had raced to 23 at over run-a-ball, clearly did not expect his batting partner to switch gears abruptly and could only watch in horror as the ball hurtled towards him. The 24-year-old only managed to instinctively turn his back to the red cherry as it struck him plumb in the center of the back. Even though Masood ran off to take a single, he immediately let out an extended groan while holding his back and signaled the physios to come tend to the injury.
Shan was clearly in pain even after some spray was applied to help relieve the agony and Twitterati was quick to make jokes of the ominous signalling behind the amusing incident.
That must've hurt!
— Travis Head (@TravisHead8441) December 15, 2023
LOL
Imam-ul-Haq ny ak short mari wo b ja k shan ko lagi🤣#AUSvsPAK #PAKvsAUS pic.twitter.com/e7vCMkPXzL
— AbdulRehman Ch 🇵🇰🏏 (@AbdulRe91066256) December 15, 2023
Smashed
Imam smashed one to the non strikers end also the captain of this PAK team Shan Masood, now almost got him run out.. 🤭#PAKvsAUS
— Danish Khan (@Danpeace024) December 15, 2023
Angry Imam
Imam is angry at Shan for not playing the real test cricket 😭😭#AUSvsPAK #AUSvPAK
— Zahra🇵🇰 (@ZahraNasir11) December 15, 2023
Good question
Imam or Australians who’ll get Shan first? We need to find out. My money is on Imam.
— Muhammad Zain (@zain175) December 15, 2023
Ruthless Imam
Imam-ul-haq hit the ball to Shan Masood, on his back!! 😂#AUSvsPAK pic.twitter.com/8t0PyteuHQ
— Tanveer Ali 🇵🇰 (@TanveerA35574) December 15, 2023
Painfull
Shan ko ball lag gya 115 ke speed mein 😂😂🤣#AUSvsPAK #shan #imam pic.twitter.com/2WNjar3ubv
— Ali Dost (@AliDost77757765) December 15, 2023
Clear rift bruhh
Imam trying to kill Shan for taking his besties captaincy? Clear rift
— Ali (@stuckon70) December 15, 2023
Revenge time
IMAM UL HAQ HIT SHAN MASSOD
— Tahsan(BA56) (@BA56Tahsan) December 15, 2023
LAGTA HAI BABAR KA BADLA LE RAHA HAI😅#AUSvsPAK pic.twitter.com/DPojL1DCrJ
Need to find out!
Imam doing the best he can to knock Shan out of the game. Yeh konsi dushmani hai?
— Twitt.Arhum (@arhuml92) December 15, 2023