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The Pakistan cricket team suffered a humiliating defeat against Australia by an innings and 18 runs in the 2nd Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Off-spinner Nathan Lyon who was under the radar off late for his poor performances put in a good show as he ran through the top order picking up the three important wickets of Younus Khan, Misbah ul Haq, and Asad Shafiq. Later on in the day, it was Mitchell Starc who ripped through the lower order with his fearsome bowling and picked up 4 wickets as Pakistan were bowled out for 163.
With this win, Australia have taken an unassailable 2-0 win in the 3 match Test series. The 3rd Test is set to begin in Sydney on the January 3rd.
Here is what the players had to say after the win:
Mitchell Starc
It has finished a lot better than it started. We kept trying to find a way to win and we always had the belief so we knew that if we took our chances we were confident of creating 10 chances. We knew we only had two sessions. Together as a bowling group we did really well and we just tried to hang out with Smithy and have a good time.
Nathan Lyon
The win is pretty special. The bowling unit stood up today and credit goes to all the boys. Smithy is a really good captain. We love playing under him. We want to go out and win three-nil now. We want to turn up to Sydney and try hard. We thought we had to do something special. Credit to the boys who held the catches. It doesn't matter who is taking the wickets, we just go out to take 20 wickets as a team.
Misbah Ul Haq
After getting 443 in the first innings, we could not bowl to any discipline and could not build any pressure. We lost all the momentum there. Full credit goes to the Australian batsmen. It's a funny game especially when you are under pressure. When you know there can only be a draw or a defeat, that can create lots of problems. We thought it might be easy if we could get a couple of wickets early. Anything over 100, you never know on the final day. We knew anything could happen. The ball was doing a lot in the first innings. Seaming and swinging. In the end, you have to win sessions. You have to play well over both innings and that's what we haven't been able to manage. You have to forget these kind of performances and stand up as a team
Steve Smith
At the start of the day, we thought of batting for 40 minutes and see how it goes. We didn't lose any wickets so we put our foot down. Starc's hits gave us the opportunity to take the 180 lead and go after them. We thought if we were able to get it to reverse soon enough, we could win. Also, Lyon bowled really well before the ball started to go. At about five down when the ball was swinging, the bowlers were fresh, that's when it started to look clear. It's an unbelievable feeling to see the boys in that huddle. Pretty surreal to have now wrapped up the series. We have got a lot of belief in the guys around. The guys are doing the hard yards to improve every day. It has been a great sort of transition. I am proud of how the guys came out today to win the Test.
Here are Tweets from in and around the cricketing fraternity:
Former Australian captain Michael Clarke:
Ayaz Memon:
Renowned cricket expert Harsha Bhogle
Former Australian cricketer Dean Jones had something to say about Misbah after the win
Isa Guha:
James Faulkner:
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