500 Test wickets around the world is huge: Cummins

When Australia set a target of 450, all eyes were on Nathan Lyon, who started the second innings one shy of the 500 Test wickets tally at 499. For the longest time in the day, it was earmarked for the off-spinner to pick up his 500th Test wicket, but Australia’s speedsters put that hope under a bit of cloud, picking up wickets in a heap. 

That moment finally came when Lyon trapped Saud Shakeel right in front of the stumps. While the Australian team was convinced that it was going on to hit the stumps, the umpire Richard Illingworth gave it not-out, only for the third umpire to overturn the decision. Lyon opened up on that moment, stating that he was ‘pretty confident’ about the wicket. 

"I was pretty confident about it, everyone said the height was okay the only issue was it might have been sliding down leg, but thankfully it was three reds", Lyon told Fox Sports in the aftermath of his memorabilia moment.

"500 wickets is pretty amazing, and to do it here and contribute to a pretty amazing team win makes it even better."

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Australian skipper Pat Cummins also didn’t shy away from praising the off-spinner, stating that it is a ‘huge’ feat to pick up 500 Test wickets around the globe. 

“500 Test wickets around the world is huge. Couldn't be happier for him. He was out for six months with a calf injury and it's great to see him back. Going to get home for a few days and we'll get together on the 22nd or the 23rd. It's always nice to have the families together for Christmas Day before we get to work,” Cummins said in the post-match presentation. 

It wasn’t just one veteran showcasing his worth; there was the duo of Usman Khawaja (90) and David Warner (164), who scored hugely in either inning to put Australia in the driver’s seat. 

“That was huge. His and Uzzy's partnership at the start really set it up for us. To get 350 odd (on the first day), we were really ahead of the game from the first day. (On Marsh) He's one of the favorites of the West, he's also one of my favorites. It's great to see him back in Australia and playing a Test after five (six) years,” Cummins added.

Pakistan skipper Shan Masood picked up the positives from the first Test, stating that it was a great sign to see the visitors play 100 overs in the first innings. 

“Look when you come to these shores, you look for progress. If you had told us that Australia will play 110 overs and we'll play 100, I'd have taken that. We could have scored quicker and 60-70 runs would have proved the difference in maybe keeping that lead to a sizeable level,” Masood said in the post-match presentation. 

One of the areas that Pakistan struggled was with the ball, where they were not quite disciplined in the first innings, letting Australia take the advantage in the clash. Masood insisted that they would want to look at being more disciplined with the ball as they conceded the first Test by a margin of 360 runs. 

“Discipline is something we would take from the Australian attack. We took 15 wickets and need to aim for 20.”