Another day, another embarrassing batting collapse for Pakistan

Hazlewood destroys Pakistan’s batting

It took Australia just one over to snatch the advantage away from Pakistan and take control of the third Test in Sydney. And that over came from Josh Hazlewood late on day three. The 32-year-old got rid of Saud Shakeel, Sajid Khan and Agha Salman in the space of five deliveries and reduced Pakistan to 68/7 on Friday (January 5). The visitors could have gone back to their hotel with a lead of 82 and at least six wickets remaining, but once again ended up throwing away the advantage. 

It all happened way too quickly. Mitchell Starc and Hazlewood dismissed Abdullah Shafique and Shan Masood in the first two overs, with the latter needlessly poking at a wide delivery. Debutant Saim Ayub (33) and Babar Azam (23) then put on 57 runs for the third wicket and it looked like Pakistan would finally have their first great day of the series. However, that’s when they lost five wickets for just 10 runs, suffering yet another collapse.

Ayub, who was dismissed for a duck in the first innings, slammed three fours and a six before falling to Nathan Lyon, while Babar was caught behind off Travis Head’s bowling. Then came that Hazlewood over, but not all is lost for Pakistan. They still have Mohammad Rizwan and Aamer Jamal at the crease and if they can somehow manage to take this lead past 150-160, Australia could have a tough time chasing on the surface that is starting to stay very low and is offering a lot of turn.

Jamal, a gift that keeps on giving

Australia were 289/5 at one stage, trailing by only 24 runs, but then lost five wickets in the space of 10 runs and ended up conceding a lead of 14 runs. Jamal took four of those wickets and finished with figures of 6/69 - his second six-wicket haul in the series. 18 wickets @ 19.22 and 125 runs @ 31.25 - the 27-year-old has been Pakistan’s best player in this series by quite a distance. In fact, Australia would have easily run away with this game if not for him.

Marnus Labuschagne and Steven Smith put on 79 runs for the third wicket but never really put Pakistan under pressure. Mir Hamza, Hasan Ali and Sajid took only two wickets between them but didn’t leak too many runs. It was Hamza who broke the partnership by getting rid of Smith for 38 before Labuschagne (60) was knocked over by Agha Salman (2/43). Travis Head couldn’t do much either, falling to Jamal, and the hosts were soon reduced to 205/5.

However, the best batter of the series, Mitchell Marsh was still around and put on 84 runs for the sixth wicket with Alex Carey (38). It looked like Australia would take a decent lead but that’s when Jamal stood up and took the final four wickets in no time. Marsh, after scoring 54, mistimed one straight to the fielder at mid-off, while Pat Cummins, Lyon and Hazlewood could only face seven deliveries between them. Jamal now becomes only the second Pakistani player, after Imran Khan, to score 80-plus runs and take six wickets in the same Test.

Jamal has done everything right in this series. He single-handedly gave Pakistan a bit of an advantage in the first innings and must have thought his job was done for the day. But guess what, by the end of day three, he was once again out there batting, trying to save Pakistan from embarrassment. The onus is once again on him to come up with something spectacular and keep his team in the game in the fourth innings. 

Lack of runs from Travis Head

Two finals, two match-winning centuries - the left-hander had a 2023 to remember. Player of the Match on both those occasions, Head, however, hasn’t done much in his last five Tests. The 30-year-old has managed 177 runs in his last nine innings @ 19.67, with the highest score being 48. Even on Friday, Head could only score 10 before falling to Jamal.

He got too deep inside the crease and was undone by the delivery coming in with the angle. This was the third time in this series he was dismissed by Jamal. Head ended up being the only Australian batter in the top seven to not touch the 30-run mark. His form would still not concern the Australian team management, considering there is no pattern to his dismissals. However, they would want their impact batter to return back to his best as soon as possible.