David Warner’s monumental innings grabbed all the headlines as Pakistan endured another torrid day in their second and final Test against Australia in Adelaide.
Warner became the seventh Australian Test triple centurion as the hosts racked up a mammoth 589-3 in just 127 overs before skipper Tim Paine opted to declare the innings.
In response, Pakistan were all at sea under the lights at the Adelaide Oval with the visitors reduced to 96-6 before stumps were drawn on Day Two.
It was a day which belonged solely to Warner with the opener’s incredible series with the bat getting ever better. His unbeaten knock of 335 is where we start off our talking points from the day.
Triple centurion Warner drives Pakistan into the ground
A celebrations befitting the achievement from Warner.
What a difference a few months and a change of scenery makes! Just two innings are all it has taken Warner to bury the demons of his wretched Ashes series where he could aggregate just 95 runs in 10 knocks.
Now, the southpaw is averaging a staggering 489 in the ongoing series after he followed up his 154 in Brisbane with the first-ever triple ton at the Adelaide Oval. The 33-year-old was at his belligerent best in a hurricane of a knock that took the Pakistan attack to the cleaners.
The great Sir Don Bradman’s unbeaten 299 had been the previous best at the ground and Warner had no problem whatsoever in going past it in imperious fashion. A plethora of records fell by the wayside in his domineering innings and even Brian Lara’s world-record 400 looked in threat before Paine’s surprising declaration.
The most incredible aspect of Warner’s record-breaking knock was the fact that he collected his runs at an astonishing strike-rate of over 80. There really was no stopping Warner on the day and Pakistan will actually be relieved that Paine called him in when they did.
Yasir Shah’s plight sums up Pakistan’s woes
No hiding place for Yasir Shah.
Pakistan were broken, defeated and absolutely shattered by the time Australia declared their innings with nothing going right for the visitors on a calamitous day. Their bowling was toothless bar the exception of Shaheen Afridi who was the only bowler to come away with some credit. On the other hand, their fielding was completely atrocious with Afridi himself being one of the biggest culprits.
For 19-year-old debutant Muhammad Musa, it was a baptism by fire with the youngster conceding 114 runs in his 20 overs without any wickets to show for. The worst, however, was senior stalwart Yasir Shah with the leg-spinner’s misery Down Under continuing unabated.
Having become the first bowler in history to concede 200 runs in a single Test innings thrice in his career during the Brisbane Test, Shah was put through the grinder once again in Adelaide with Warner showing him no mercy at all.
The leggie was carted for 197 runs in 32 overs at an economy-rate over six, which are now the most expensive figures accumulated by any Test bowler who has bowled more than 30 overs.
Australia has never been a happy hunting ground for Shah but the Adelaide display is without a doubt his worst. He will count himself lucky that Australia chose to declare, else it could have been another unwanted ‘double ton’ against his name.
Starc comes alive under the lights to leave Pakistan reeling
Starc dismantles Pakistan under the floodlights.
The pitch had seemed like an absolute road when Australia were batting but Pakistan’s batsmen managed to make to make it look like a complete minefield when they came out to bat.
Suddenly, the pink-ball seemed to be doing all sorts of things with Pakistan’s batsmen behaving like deer under the Adelaide floodlights. While Babar Azam waged a lone battle with an unbeaten 43, the rest of the Pakistan batting unit showed no fight with Mitchell Starc running riot with the pink-ball.
The left-armed Aussie pacer accounted for four Pakistan wickets in his 13 overs while Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins chipped in with one wicket apiece. All six of the Pakistan batsmen to fall were due to outside edges although some of them were completely avoidable.
Asad Shafiq, Ifitikhar Ahmed and Mohammad Rizwan chased at wide deliveries outside the off-stump and paid the price for their loose shots by nicking behind to Paine.
Can’t bowl, can’t field and can’t bat either – it has been a chastening indictment of Pakistan’s woes with the visitors now well on their way to lose a 14th consecutive Test on Australian soil.
