AUS vs PAK | Twitter reacts as Australia establish dominance after Pakistan spurn opportunities on Day 2

SportsCafe Desk

BySportsCafe Desk, SportsCafe Editor

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A resolute display from Pakistan through most of Wednesday led to arguably the most competitive day of cricket in the series so far before letting things spin out of control in the final session. The Men in Green finished on 208/8 at Stumps after having earlier bowled out the hosts for 318.

The overnight pair of Marnus Labuschagne and Travis Head resumed confidently from 187/3 to steer the team past 200 and bring up the 50-run stand of just 63 balls before Shaheen Afridi struck the first blow for Pakistan by getting rid of Travis Head for 17. The hosts continued to take advantage of the ageing Kookaburra nevertheless to rack up the runs quickly but Labuschagne (63) succumbed to the charge on the penultimate delivery before the new ball was taken, with the score 250/5. Wickets tumbled quickly thereafter even as Mitchell Marsh counterattacked at one end and his knock of 41 proved to be crucial to take Australia to a competitive total of 318 on the stroke of Lunch. From Pakistan's perspective, Aamer Jamal ended top of the charts with three scalps while the other three pacers managed two wickets each.

The Men in Green's openers kickstarted the second session of the day with a sturdy showing against troublesome new-ball bowling. However, Imam-ul-Haq looked increasingly uncomfortable and eventually succumbed to Nathan Lyon for 10 to leave Abdullah Shafique and Shan Masood at the crease. The duo complemented each other excellently in the face of threatening spells as the former held his ground while the latter counter-attacked, accumulating 90 runs together on either side of Tea. However, just when the visitors seemed to have found calm waters, Pat Cummins emerged to the fore with aplomb. He first got rid of Shafique for 62 with a brilliant caught and followed it up with a nipping-back peach to clean up Babar Azam. Masood consequently gave in to the chaos as well with an unrequited attempt to slog Nathan Lyon before Cummins struck again with Salman Agha Ali's wicket. A steady score of 124/1 had devolved into 170/6 but the pair of Mohammad Rizwan (29*) and Aamer Jamaal (2*) avoided any further tragedies to help end the day on 194/6 and trailing by 124 runs.

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