Yet another innings defeat is looming large for Pakistan as they were reeling at 271/8 with 67 runs needed to avoid follow-on at the end of day 3 of the third Test against Australia at the SCG in Sydney.
Pakistan batsmen struggled to get the job done on a rain-curtailed day at Sydney. Veteran batsman Younis Khan looked solid while the other batsmen kept losing their wickets at regular intervals. Azhar Ali was the first to go this afternoon for 71 when a miscommunication with Younis found him short of the crease in the striker's end.
Skipper Misbah-ul-Haq, who is probably playing his last Test match, looked jaded in his short stay at the crease before he holed out to Jackson Bird at deep square-leg off Nathan Lyon for 18. Asad Shafiq too didn’t last long as Steve O’Keefe had him caught by skipper Steve Smith in the slip cordon for 4.
Amidst these, Younis Khan scored his 34th Test ton and became the first batsman to score a Test hundred in 11 countries. Australia took the new ball and struck immediately as Mitchell Starc had Sarfaraz Ahmed caught in the gully by Bird for 18 before Mohammad Amir and Wahab Riaz were dismissed by Lyon in the final few overs of the day.
Pakistan were restricted to 271/8 with Younis Khan batting on 136 off 279 balls with 14 fours and 1 six while Yasir Shah is unbeaten on 5 when the umpires called it a day. Nathan Lyon was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 3-98.
Also read: Stats- Peter Handscomb continues his good run in Test cricket
Let us take a look at the statistical highlights from the day’s play.
Younis Khan becomes the first player to score at least one century in 11 different countries. He has scored 100s in all the 10 Test playing nations and UAE. Rahul Dravid has scored a century in 10 countries but didn’t manage to score one in the United Arab Emirates.
7.60- Misbah-ul-Haq’s average in this series, his worst in any series. So far, he has scored just 38 runs in 5 innings.
395- Runs scored by Azhar Ali in this series, the most by any Pakistani batsman in Australia.
32- Number of centuries scored by Younis Khan without getting dismissed in the nineties, the most by any batsman.
34- This is Younis Khan’s 34th Test 100.
Younis Khan (39 years, 37 days) is the oldest player to score a century in Australia since Clive Llyod (aged 40 years,84 days) scored 114 in 1984.
Younis Khan has converted 11 of his last 15 fifties into centuries.
Brand-new app in a brand-new avatar! Download CricRocket for fast cricket scores, rocket flicks, super notifications and much more! 🚀☄️
