Pakistan vs. Australia: Winners and Losers from 1st Test
Pakistan produced a stunning performance to shock much-fancied Australia in the first Test of their two-match series, with the underdogs claiming victory by the massive margin of 221 runs at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
And these were the various winners and losers from both sides over the course of the five days in the United Arab Emirates…
Loser: Michael Clarke (Australia)
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Australia captain Michael Clarke endured a torrid match with the bat in Dubai, making a paltry five runs in total from 22 balls before being dismissed by one of Pakistan’s trio of tweakers, and this was from the tourists’ best player of spin bowling too.
To make matters worse, though, had the skipper opted to review his second-innings leg-before decision against Yasir Shah, then it would have been overturned after replays confirmed that Clarke had inside-edged the ball onto his pad.
However, the fact that Pup decided against sending it upstairs—after consultation with his partner at the other end Chris Rogers—summed up his Test really, with nothing much going right for him and his team from the moment he called incorrectly to lose a crucial toss on the first morning.
And now Clarke, who went into the game having played just one innings in an ODI since his last five-day knock back in March, is in danger of becoming the first Australia skipper to lose a Test series to Pakistan in exactly 20 years.
Winner: Younis Khan (Pakistan)
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Pakistan batsman Younis Khan turned in a man-of-the-match display in Dubai by scoring the 25th and 26th Test centuries of his run-laden career, now more than any other player from his country has ever made.
Incredibly, Younis’ first-innings 106 was his first-ever hundred against Australia, meaning that the 36-year-old is now the only Pakistani to have recorded tons against all nine Test-playing nations and one of only a select band of batsmen to have achieved that feat in the world game.
And the veteran’s second-innings unbeaten 103 was also his sixth century in the UAE, three more than anyone else has registered in the region, as Younis jumped up to seventh place in the International Cricket Council’s newly published Test-match batting rankings.
Winner: David Warner (Australia)
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Opener David Warner joined wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist in becoming the only Australians in the post-Donald Bradman era to score hundreds in three successive Test innings after making a brilliant 133 in Dubai.
The fast-scoring left-hander’s ninth Test century simply continued on what has been a quite remarkable past 12 months for the diminutive New South Wales batsman, whose scores leading into this opening match of the series read 115, 70, 66, 135 and 145.
In fact, Warner’s form of late has been so impressive that he is now positioned at a career-high fourth in the world in the ICC’s latest Test-batting rankings.
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Winner: Sarfraz Ahmed (Pakistan)
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Pakistan wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed continued his excellent recent form with the bat since being recalled to the side in place of Umar Akmal by scoring a memorable second Test ton on Day 2 in Dubai to help his side reach an imposing first-innings total of 454.
The 27-year-old reacted with unconfined joy after reaching the landmark from just 80 balls—the fourth-fastest in Pakistani history and the second-quickest ever made by a stumper in the history of the game—while in total the Karachi-born batsman hit 14 fours in a blistering effort of 109 that the tourists simply had no answers to.
And now the right-hander has produced outstanding innings of 7, 74, 5, 48, 55, 52*, 103, 55, 109 and 15* since his comeback at the turn of the year.
Loser: Alex Doolan (Australia)
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Alex Doolan did a more-than-passable impression of Shane Watson when replacing the key No. 3 in Australia’s batting line-up on his Test debut against South Africa in Centurion last February, scoring a second-innings 89 as the tourists beat the world’s No.1-ranked side.
However, the tall Tasmanian right-hander found the going far harder in his fourth appearance in Dubai, making underwhelming contributions of 5 and 0 in his two knocks as cover once again for the injured Watto.
And as if being run out in the first innings, having badly misjudged a quick single to mid-on after struggling to make five painful runs off 34 balls was not bad enough, the 28-year-old then compounded matters by crucially dropping a simple offering off Asad Shafiq from the first ball of Day 3 when the Pakistani was just nine.
Winner: Zulfiqar Babar (Pakistan)
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Few people gave Pakistan much hope of being able to beat the world’s second-best Test side minus the services of mystery spinner Saeed Ajmal, but that was reckoning without his replacement in the side, Zulfiqar Babar.
The 35-year-old may have only made his Test bow for his country against South Africa this time last year, with this contest being just the left-armer’s third appearance in the longer form of the game.
However, after picking up brilliant match figures of 7-155 from his 58.1 overs, including a maiden five-wicket haul as he spun the home team to victory in the second innings, Babar can now look forward to bowling alongside Ajmal if and when the off-spinner returns to action next year.
And the tweaker could have ended the game with an even better bowling analysis had four catches not been spilled late on as Pakistan made a final push for victory, not that he or his team-mates will care now that the win is in the bag, though.
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