Day 1: Naseem Shah & Afridi restrict Aussies

Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah were brilliant today as both of them picked up 2 wickets each.

Usman Khawaja continued his brilliant form against Pakistan but unfortunately, he suffered a bout of nerves in the 90s for the second time in this series.

Australia finished on 232-5 before stumps on day 1 with Cameron Green and Alex Carey still present at the crease.

Australia   1st innings   232-5

Khawaja 91               Naseem 2-40                                                                                                                                    Smith 59                    Shaheen 2-39                                                                                                                                 Head 26                     Sajid 1-65

It was another historical day for Pakistani supporters as Test cricket was revived in Lahore after 13 long years.

It is indeed sad that all the Pakistani players in their current squad are playing their first international Test match in Lahore.

You gotta feel for these players, especially for someone like Azhar Ali who has played 93 Test matches but this will be his first international Test match in his home ground and city.

Australia elected to bat first and they made no changes in their playing 11 for the series decider.

Pakistan reduced their batting strength by picking Naseem Shah in place of the all-rounder Faheem Ashraf but it proved to be a good decision as Naseem bowled beautifully today.

Naseem Shah picked up two important wickets of Steve Smith and Travis Head.

Shaheen shines with the ball

Shaheen once again proved to be lethal with the new ball as he dismissed the two main batters of the Australian batting lineup, David Warner and Marnus Labuschagne within the gap of just 3 deliveries.

Afridi is currently ranked among the best bowlers in the world and is known for his early breakthroughs with the new ball.

In only the 3rd over of the innings, Shaheen first get rid of David Warner on a good length delivery that came back quite a lot way off the seam and Warner was given LBW out by the umpire.

After the gap of only one ball, Shaheen dismissed the number 1 ranked Test batsman Labuschagne for a duck to put Australia in big trouble at 8-2 in 3 overs.

Labuschagne got an outside edge while trying to drive the ball and got caught behind without troubling the scorers.

Smith and Khawaja stand

After losing two early wickets, Steve Smith and Usman Khawaja rebuilt the innings by putting up a good 3rd wicket partnership.

Both of them were dropped early on in Nauman’s over and they took full advantage of those drop chances by sharing a 138 runs stand for the 3rd wicket.

Naseem Shah broke their partnership by dismissing Steven Smith for 59 runs.

Smith failed to convert his fifty into a big score for the third time in this series.

Usman Khawaja also failed to complete a well-deserved hundred and got caught out at first slip after scoring 91 runs.

Naseem Shah claimed his second wicket of the day by dismissing Travis Head for 26 runs.

Cameron Green and Alex Carey resisted the remaining over before stumps to make sure Australia will end day 1 without losing any more wickets.