Australian Skipper Pat Cummins bowled a perfect spell right at the end of fourth day’s play and won the boxing day test match for his side by taking 10 wickets in the match. For his 5 wickets haul in both the innings he was awarded Player of the Match award for this 2nd test match. Australia won this test match by 79 runs with 1 day remaining.
Pakistan in their 2nd innings did bat aggressively as captain Shan Masood and Babar Azam made half centuries and 41 runs respectively in a hurry but none of them was unable to stay long on the pitch. They both made a 61-run partnership after both openers were out at 49 runs.
Muhammad Rizwan who made 42 runs in the 1st Innings has batted nicely in the 2nd innings as well. Both Rizwan and Agha Salman played exceptionally well for a 57-run partnership. They helped Pakistan to a score of 219 for 5 where only 98 more runs were required to win the match and level this 3-match test series but again it was Pat Cummins who won the battle and got rid of Rizwan and he dismissed Shaheen Shah Afridi to claim his 10th wicket of the match. He became the second Australian captain after Allan Border to achieve 5-wicket haul in both the innings.
Mitchell Starc got back to back wickets of Agha Salman and Mir Hamza as Pakistan lost 5 wickets for just 18 runs to receive their 16th Straight defeat in Australia.
Reasons of Defeat for Pakistan:
Pakistani bowlers conceded 52 extra runs in Australia’s 1st Innings which were too many at this level.
A drop catch by Abdullah Shafiq on 3rd day of Mitchell Marsh at score of 20 who went on to make 96 runs.
In the 2nd innings, Pakistan batted bery bravely and created hope to win the match but then collapse of tail without any resistance with only 79 runs left to win is a main reason Pakistan lost the 2nd test match too.
By winning this 2nd test match, Australia has also won this 3-match test series by 2-0 with 3rd test match yet to be played
Schedule of 3rd test match:
3rd Test Match – Australia vs Pakistan – on December 3rd, 2024 at Sydney Cricket Ground.