Reliving all three day-night Tests played in Australia

#3 Australia vs Pakistan, Brisbane – December 2016

Australia survived a scare in the first Test against Pakistan

In 2016, Pakistan toured Australia after six long years in what was just their second visit to the country since 2005. And a Day-Night Test greeted them first up at the Gabba (Brisbane). With a lively pitch and the pink ball, the Test match was poised to be a cracker as both sides were well-stocked with good fast bowlers.

Australia batted first and racked up 288 runs on the first day with skipper Steve Smith leading from the front. But, Pakistan fought back well on the second day as they restricted the hosts to 429, with Smith (130) and Handscomb (105) scoring beautiful tons. In reply, Pakistan were bowled out cheaply (for 142) as all the Aussie quicks (Starc, Hazlewood and Bird) impressed with three wickets apiece.

With 287 runs in the clear, Australia decided against enforcing the follow on and batted again. They piled on the misery, scoring in excess of five runs per over with Khawaja (74) and Smith (63) notching up fifties.

With more than 200 overs remaining in the game and a target of 490 in front of them, Pakistan seemed dead and buried. However, a strong start gave them some hope. Younus Khan (65) and Azhar Ali (71) scored fifties but couldn’t capitalize on their starts. Their dismissals triggered a mini-collapse as Pakistan were reduced to 220/6. The game looked done and dusted.

But, a brilliant knock from Asad Shafiq (137) and useful contributions from the lower-order ensured the game went on for a while longer. Shafiq batted beautifully with the tail to take Pakistan close. However, he got out when the visitors needed 41 more to dash the hopes of the visitors. Pakistan eventually lost the Test match by 39 runs and Australia took a 1-0 lead and continued their 100% record in Day-Night Tests.

Brief Scores: Australia 429 (Smith 130, Handscomb 105, Wahab 4-89, Amir 4-97) and 5 for 202 dec (Khawaja 74, Smith 63, Rahat Ali 2/40) beat Pakistan 142 (Sarfraz 59*, Hazlewood 3/22, Bird 3/23) and 450 (Shafiq 137, Azhar 71, Starc 4-119, Bird 3/110).