Australia v Pakistan, 2nd Test Day 2: 5 Talking Points

In spite of the rain that once again made a terrible intervention, the Day would be claimed by Australia who was simply sizzling on the day. In spite of the fact that the Pakistanis were indeed able to counter fire with fire in the form of Azhar Ali’s patient innings, the other wickets on the day simply could have been avoided, to say the least. Moreover, it was once again Jackson Bird who made a divine intervention to give the Aussies the breakthrough once again as he had done on Boxing Day. However, the hallmark of the ordeal was the fact that Azhar Ali completed yet another impressive century on the day, something that he would certainly take pride in. In spite of the fact that Mitchell Starc was not among the wickets on the day, he will certainly be pleased by the way he bowled. While that certainly would be a talking point, here are five talking points from the recently concluded day’s play.

1. Azhar and Shafiq build on previous day’s exploits

When Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq had left the field on the first day’s play, Pakistan was staring down the barrel. They had lost two of their best players in the form of Misbah-ul-Haq and Younis Khan. However, Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq, the new waves of Pakistan cricket were there for all to see. The duo began to showcase their skill, class, and most importantly, their character when they began to combat the Australian batting. While Azhar Ali began to smash his way past the 100-run mark, it was clear that Asad Shafiq would be key to staying with his limited-overs’ skipper when the likes of Jackson Bird and Josh Hazelwood made inroads.

Needless to say, Shafiq went on to smash a half-century and did indeed showcase some of the character everyone knew that he was certainly capable of with a tremendous show of batting. He stayed for 123 deliveries managing 50 runs, something that propelled the Pakistanis towards the 300-run mark as well. However, he received a peach of a delivery from the impressive Jackson Bird who eventually got his number. What was interesting to see was the mark left on the bat of Asad Shafiq, something that showcased the zip on the MCG surface.

2. Azhar adds another ton to inventory

As mentioned earlier, when Azhar Ali bats, it is either a catastrophic failure or a classy innings that sees him dig his side out of trouble. Thankfully for Pakistan, it was the latter extreme that prevailed as Pakistan eventually continued on their merry way towards a feisty and competitive score of 300. Azhar exhibited tremendous batting acumen as he went on to smash his twelfth century in Test match cricket. What was even more impressive about the ordeal was the fact that Azhar remained to be unbeaten as well whilst the ball was swinging a country mile, to say the least. At 139, it remains to be seen how he paces his innings in the coming future.

3. Rain comes out to frustrate both sides yet again

While the rains came to the seeming rescue of the Pakistan team on the previous day’s play when they had lost four wickets, this time it came out to frustrate them, to say the least. As Shane Warne, someone who hails from Melbourne went on to state, the city of Melbourne can go on to witness all the four seasons in just the one single day. However, the second day saw the rains make an intervention on two occasions to frustrate both sides. The first time threw a wrench into the partnership that was blossoming into a dangerous one as far as the Australians were concerned. The second rain break also brought to an end what was an impressive show of batting from both Azhar Ali and Mohammad Amir as the latter had slashed his way to an impressive 24.

4. Fiery Starc sets the pace after rain interval

In India, the Australian cricket telecast begins at about 3 in the morning at the earliest. However, in spite of all this, a true cricket fan will wake up at 2:55 am if Mitchell Starc is fit and bowling. While Mitchell Johnson had the pace and was nasty to the core, Starc boasts of spectacular and raw pace. It is not fashionable these days, but many would certainly be afraid to stand in front of Starc when he is bowling those bouncers upwards of 95 mph. And after the first break in play due to rain, Starc was simply unplayable. Unplayable for the batsmen and unplayable for Matthew Wade behind the stumps whose fingers took somewhat of a pounding each time the red cherry rattled into his gloves, to say the least. Although Starc was not among the wickets, he consistently bowled upwards of 90 mph in all the 23 overs he bowled in the match.

5. Matthew Wade has a testing day behind the stumps

When Matthew Wade has reinstated into the Test side ahead of Peter Nevill, it was clear that the Aussies had once again sought out the wicketkeeper-batsman role following the unsuccessful experiment of Nevill. While Wade has certainly made amends when it comes to his batting, things were not all bells and whistles when it came to Wade’s keeping skills on Day 2. On an up and down surface at the MCG, it is incredibly difficult to keep to bowlers bowling upwards of 90 mph. For a batsman, it is hard enough, but one generally tends to forget the wicketkeeper. However, Wade did a fantastic job no less completing catches he had absolutely no right completing. In spite of the fact that there were indeed the odd ones that even bounced Wade to reach the fence behind him, it was a strong and entertaining wicketkeeping show.