Pakistan vs. Australia

142/1: a respectable start in a Test match. 202 all out is an excellent score ... for a T20 game.

60 Runs for which Australia lost all their ten wickets after the openers had put on 142. The collapse is the third-worst for any side after a century opening stand. The two worst such collapses were India's 10 for 46 against England at Old Trafford in 1946, and New Zealand's 10 for 51 runs against Australia at Auckland in 1974.

42 Runs by Australia's last nine wickets are the fewest in their first innings in the last 50 years. After the openers, the highest individual score was Mitchell Marsh's 12, and only two others got into double-digits.

What's really shocking is that the main architect of this destruction has never played a Test match before! On the flip side, these two Aussies had the worst start to their Test career:

6 Instances of two debutants in the top-six batting positions making ducks in the same innings. Australia's Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne got out for ducks to the debutant Bilal Asif in the same over. It was only the third instance when debutants at No. 5 and 6 got out for ducks.

Brutal. The Aussie batsmen will likely face the refreshed Paki bowlers at the end of day 4. If their openers don't survive, then it's game over for Australia.

Comments

[Tambi Dude]

But Sirji, Bilal Asif chucks. I just got a whatsapp from someone who is watching it and says he is a blatant chucker. He was already reported few years ago.

[Tambi Dude]

Why do Pakistani bowlers have a disproportionate large number of bowlers reported for chucking? A serious question.

[Isaac Schrödinger]

If he's chucking, then it's for the same reason a disproportionate number of them have been caught fixing the game ... They think they can get away with it. Plus, the Pakistani Cricket Board might overlook such "a small flaw" while fast-tracking the ishtylish bowler on to the global stage. Though, here, with Bilal being 33 that doesn't apply.

I watched the highlights of him taking the wickets. It didn't look suspect to me. Still, the umpires ought to keep a sharp eye on him because his action was deemed to be questionable before. Let's see what they report when the match is over.

[Tambi Dude]

Pakistan has a great tradition of top class bowlers, right from Fazal Mehmood. Upto the
Ws (I am not 100% convinced that they achieved reverse swing thru legal means - * )
no one had a suspect action. The first bhatta was Shoaib A who otherwise was a magnificent sight to see. Shoaib would bowl normal many times, but slip in few bhattas now and then. On the spinner sides, Pak has produced more chuck bowlers.

* In the http://www.espncricinfo.com/series/15864/scorecard/63828/india-vs-pakistan-1st-test-pakistan-tour-of-india-1998-99 test as India went from 87/5 to 217/5 (chasing 270) and Tendulkar on a 100, the desperation of Wasim was so much that he was vigorously applying cream from his forehead on one side of the ball to keep it shining and assist in reverse swing. Gavaskar as the commentator was pointing it it out "is it legal?".
Cricket laws allows saliva / sweat to be applied on the ball, but not foreign objects like sun cream.