For the past five days, the match between Australia and Pakistan was in the news. The match held in Dubai, got interesting with each passing ball. It was Usman Khwaja who led the battle from the front and refused to give up in the fourth innings. At one point in time, the batsman was considered to be a liability on the team on Asian surface, but today after scoring 141, he surely must have erased all the doubts looming over him for a long time now. Khawaja went on to be only fifth Australian batsman to score a hundred in the fourth innings of a Test in Asia. This was fourth longest inning for Australia in the last 47 years. Pakistan vs Australia, 1st Test 2018: Six-Wicket Bilal Asif Sparks Spectacular Australian Collapse. 

After winning the match, Pakistan elected to bat first. Imam-Ul-Haq (76), Mohammad Hafeez (126), Haris Sohail (110) and Asad Shafiq (80) were the highest scorers for the team. Pakistan put up a total of 482 runs for the first innings. Australia on the other hand, responded quite poorly by getting out on 202 with only Usman Khawaja (85) and Aaron Finch (62) making the maximum runs for the team. Which means the Australians fell short of 280 runs. Test debutant Bilal Asif claimed six wickets and scripted a dramatic Australian collapse. For second Pakistan once again put up a score of 181 runs for the loss of six wickets. This mean, the Aussies had to make 461 runs for walking away with the victory.

Wickets fell for Aussies one after another. Aaron Finch made way to the pavilion before even scoring a half-century on 49. Shaun Marsh and Mitchell Marsh departed on a duck and Australia looked in deep trouble. It looked like Pakistan was about to win the game comprehensively. But it was Usman Khawaja was still around and he built a 132-run partnership with Travis Head. After Head departed, he made a 79 run long partnership with Tam Paine. It was Yasir Shah who then claimed the wicket of Usman on 141 and the scoreboard by then read 331/6. Victory had almost slipped from Pakistan’s hands and the remaining batsmen played for a draw.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 11, 2018 07:40 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).