Twitter Reactions: Marnus Labuschagne's 185 and Australia pacers floor Pakistan in Brisbane

Pakistan have already lost three wickets in the second innings with just 64 runs on the board.

View : 1.6K

5 Min Read

Marnus Labuschagne
info
Marnus Labuschagne. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)

Australia have completely dominated the ongoing first Test against Pakistan in Brisbane. After David Warner’s impeccable knock, it was Marnus Labuschagne who piled on the runs at will. He took the toll of the opposition’s poor bowling. Though it was unfortunate for him to miss a well deserved double century, the knock ensured Pakistan were tired by the time they bundled out the hosts.

Australia scored a mammoth 580 runs on the board and took a lead of 340 runs. They kept the visitors in the field for 157.4 overs on the field and the tired legs showed when Pakistan batted in the second innings. Azhar Ali, the skipper, was the first one to go with Mitchell Starc pinning him in front of the stumps. Haris Sohail’s poor form continued as he edged one to Tim Paine off the same bowler.

Asad Shafiq, the top scorer of the first innings, was the next one to follow his teammates as Pat Cummins got one to bounce from the good length area. He was already forward and the ball, after bouncing, took the edge of the bat to settle into Steve Smith’s hands in the second slip.

Amidst all the action at the other end, Shan Masood held his own and joined hands with Babar Azam to see off the day. Both the batsmen looked uncomfortable towards the end of the day with the Aussie bowlers creating chances even in the final over. Pakistan ended the day on 64/3 trailing by a massive 276 runs in the second innings and it will be only a matter of time when Australia pick the remaining seven wickets to go ahead in the series.

Marnus Labuschagne leads the way for Australia

Earlier in the day, Australia resumed at 312/1 and were dealt with two blows in the first hour. Naseem Shah finally got the first wicket of his career as he bounced the southpaw on 154. Yasir Shah then dismissed Steve Smith for the seventh time in Tests and at 358/3, it seemed as if Pakistan will stage a brief comeback in the game. But Marnus Labuschagne had other ideas.

He took his Test match batting level a notch higher and along with, Matthew Wade, extended the lead to frustrate the visitors. Australia number three played some authoritative drives and entertained the crowd. The duo added 110 runs for the fourth wicket and in the process, Labuschagne also got to his first Test ton. It was a proud and emotional moment as his father and wife were also present to witness his epic knock.

After soaking up the applause from the crowd, Labuschagne again concentrated hard and even after Wade’s dismissal, he continued scoring runs. Australia were probably waiting for him to score the well-deserved double hundred but Labuschagne missed it by just 15 runs. He edged one off Shaheen Afridi after scoring 185 off 279 deliveries with 20 fours to his name.

Surprisingly, Tim Paine didn’t declare even then and continued to bat. However, in quest of some quick runs, Australia lost their last five wickets for just 35 runs and were bowled out for 580 runs. The lead of 340 runs looks more than enough for the hosts to register an innings victory and they should wrap up the proceedings on the fourth day itself unless Pakistan batsmen put up an exhibition on some extremely good batting.

Here’s how Twitter reacted:

Get every cricket updates! Follow Us:

googletelegraminstagramwhatsappyoutubethreadstwitter

Download Our App

For a better experience: Download the CricTracker app from the IOS and Google Play Store