AUS v PAK, 2nd Test, Review: Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon ensure victory by an innings margin

Australia secured a highly impressive victory by an innings and 18 runs on the final day of the rain-affected 2nd Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground to take an unbeatable 2-0 lead before going Sydney for the final Test of the series. Pakistan terribly failed to withstand Australian bowler’s fiery quest for a victory and submitted for just 163 in the second innings failing to overhaul the 191 runs lead posted by Australia.

The game was wide open in favour of the Australians by Tea. Pakistan batting order, which produced a praise worthy show in the opening innings, crumbled badly losing five wickets in a hurry with Nathan Lyon, Hazelwood and Mitchell Starc sharing the spoils. The trio of bowlers broke the back of the Pakistan batting order to put Australia in a winning position with a long last session waiting to happen and no signs of rains at all.

The fifth day was perhaps the only day during the course of last five days which had no interruption. The match lost a session each in the last four day. But, the bright, sunny weather today created a perfect setting for Australia to press for a win. The intentions were as clear. Steven Smith and Mitchell Starc, the overnight batsman, walked in to begin an aggressive show of batting hammering the Pakistan bowlers with an aim of scaling up the lead.

A four off the first ball of the day by centurion Smith and a trio of sixes in the next few overs by Starc spoke for the approach they had. Starc played an inning much similar to the Peter Handscomb knock and successfully outpaced Smith in term of getting runs. Within no time the left arm fast bowler cruised to his 8th Test fifty with a glorious pull shot off Sohail Khan.

Smith, took a backseat and preferred to enjoy his partner’s clean hitting but also moved towards the 150 runs mark steadily. Starc, in fact, enjoyed a dash of luck as well when he was put down in the long off region by Sohail Khan off the part leg spin of Azhar Ali. The pair eventually added up 154 for the 7th wicket, the second highest this match for Australia.

Starc was well on course of his maiden Test hundred but lost his wicket unfortunately when his urge to hit a maximum off Sohail Khan got his caught at the short deep backward square leg thus end in the highly entertaining stand. The declaration came an over later when Nathan Lyon lost his wicket after hitting two boundaries off Yasir Shah with Australia ended at a formidable 624/8.

Pakistan needed to survive just one session and four overs approximately to keep the series alive. Unfortunately, that couldn’t happen. The last session was completely owned by Mitchell Starc who reaped three tail-enders to fasten the process to wrapping up the match.

Josh Hazlewood uprooted Sami Aslam’s stumps in the second over of the fresh innings to raise the doubt of another collapse in the mind of the Pakistan supporter when Lunch was called.

The fears came true for Pakistan in the final session as Nathan Lyon and later Mitchell Starc ripped apart the batting order without much fuss. Coming back from the break, Starc trapped Babar Azam off the very first delivery. Azam tried his luck by reviewing it but the original decision from the umpire stayed and he had to walk.

Younis and Azhar Ali carried forward the innings with some stability for some time adding 57 for the 3rd wicket. But off-spinner Nathan Lyon did what the Australians were waiting to happen – trigger a collapse. Lyon, who received some uninspiring words from Smith yesterday, crushed the core of the batting order with the wickets of Younis Khan, Misbah ul Haq in the space of three balls during the 20th over and later got rid of Asad Shafiq. Things became worse for the tourist when Azhar Ali also departed shortly.

Wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed (43) and Mohammad Amir (11) then showed some resistance and tried to delay the win but Jackson Bird produced a beauty to end Amir stay and break the frustrating 42 runs partnership. With jus three wickets apart from a win, Starc made the job look pretty easy and wiped off the tail to ensure that there no drama Brisbane like drama unfolded.

Brief scores: 

Pakistan: 443/9d (Azhar Ali 205*; Josh Hazlewood 3/53) & 163 all out (Azhar Ali 43; Sarfraz Ahmed 43; Mitchell Starc 4/36)

Australia: 624/8 (Steve Smith 165; Sohail Khan 3/131)