With another dominating day of batting Pakistan set a target a target of 538 with two days to go in the second test match in Abu Dhabi. Resuming their innings on Day 3, Pakistan lost two wickets in the first hour. Azhar Ali’s bizarre runout was the highlight of the day as the batsman didn’t notice the ball stopping yards before the boundary line and Tim Paine was as calm as he can to collect the throw from Mitchell Starc to dislodge the bails. The two batsmen were in the middle of the pitch which saw Azhar Ali’s walking back to the pavilion. Comedy of errors.
Babar Azam and Sarfaraz formed another brilliant partnership to toil Australians and took the lead past 500. Azam missed out a well deserved century by just one run and Sarfaraz also couldn’t convert his score to three figure as he fell for 81. Pakistan declared their innings soon after his wicket with 400 on board and 537 runs lead.
Australia had to survive the last hour of the day and had 12 overs to negotiate. Shaun Marsh opened the innings with Finch as Khawaja had an injury on the field, failed once again in the test series. Travis Head joined Finch and saw through the day without any further damage.
Australia closed Day 3 at 47-1 and have two full days to survive to draw the match which looks impossible with the pitch will provide more assistance to bowlers in the next two days.
