Day 5: Australia clinch historic series win

Nathan Lyon claimed a superb five-wicket haul on the final day of the historic Test series.

Pakistan was beaten in their home yard and they lost a golden chance to beat Australia and get some crucial WTC points.

Usman Khawaja was the star for Australia in this series with 496 runs in only 5 innings.

Australia   1st innings   391 all-out

Khawaja 91               Naseem 4-58                                                                                                                                   Green 79                   Shaheen 4-79

Pakistan   1st innings    268 all-out

Abdullah 81            Cummins 5-56                                                                                                                                  Azhar 78                  Starc 4-33

Australia     2^nd innings    227-3 Dec

Khawaja 104*             Naseem 1-23                                                                                                                                                         Warner 51                   Shaheen 1-45

Pakistan   2nd innings     236 all-out 

Imam 70                  Lyon 5-83                                                                                                                                                                Babar 55                  Cummins 3-23

Australia came to Pakistan after a long wait of 24 years and they managed to win this historic series 1-0.

Australia fought hard in Rawalpindi Test, almost won the match in Karachi but they outplayed Pakistan in the Lahore Test.

Pakistan has definitely missed a huge opportunity to beat the Australian side but they have made a mess of it by making such flat pitches.

Australia has won their second consecutive series in Pakistan but with a gap of 24 years.

The number 1 ranked Test side was brilliantly led by the number 1 ranked Test bowler Pat Cummins who made bold decisions that helped his side to beat Pakistan on their home soil.

The decision of an early declaration from Pat Cummins proved correct at the end and Australia will remember this victory for a long time because this is their first series win in Asia since 2011.

Nathan Lyon’s five-for

Nathan Lyon was brilliant with the bowl on day 5 as he kept hitting those cracks and in the end, got a reward for his consistency.

The veteran spinner claimed his 19th five haul of his Test career and this was a special one because it has come in Asian conditions.

Nathan Lyon picked wickets at crucial stages when some partnerships were building in the Pakistan innings.

He dismissed the main pillars of Pakistan’s batting lineup including Azhar Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, and Babar Azam.

Cummins led from the front

Lyon was brilliantly supported by the skipper Pat Cummins who was just simply outstanding in this Test match with his reverse swing bowling.

Pat Cummins picked up 3 wickets for 23 runs in the second innings and hence, he ended with 8 wickets in the match.

Pakistan lost Abdullah Shafique early on in the day as he got caught behind by Cameron Green.

Azhar Ali looked solid and tried to build up a good partnership with Imam-ul-Haq but after scoring 27 runs he suffered another controversial dismissal in this series.

He got a very faint edge that went into Steve Smith’s hands in the first slip but Azhar Ali was sure that he hasn’t edged the ball.

Imam and Babar survived till lunch and they were never looked to win the match and seemingly they were going for another draw.

Lyon dismissed Imam for a well-made 70 runs and the game turned quickly after this wicket.

The out-of-form Fawad ended the series with another bad performance. He got LBW out after scoring only 11 runs.

Mohammed Rizwan is considered as the backbone of the Pakistani batting lineup alongside Babar but today he was stunned with an almost unplayable delivery from Pat Cummins.

He was given LBW out and he didn’t even review it but the DRS showed that the impact was outside off and he was not out but it was too late.

Pakistan was 5 down before tea and Australia only needed 5 wickets in the final session to win this match.

Babar was playing bravely with his fifty and after the tea break, both he and Sajid Khan started to play aggressively.

Sadly, Babar’s knock came to end with his dismissal in Nathan Lyon’s over. He scored an impressive 55 before getting caught in first slips.

Australia didn’t waste much time removing Pakistan’s lower order and registered their historic Test victory in Pakistan after 24 long years.

They bowled out Pakistan on 236 runs and won the match by 115 runs.