Australia lifted the inaugural Benaud-Qadir Trophy when they defeated Pakistan by 115 runs in the third and decisive cricket Test at the Gaddafi Stadium on Friday to win the three-Test series 1-0.
Resuming at 73 for no loss in pursuit of a 351-run target, Pakistan were bowled out for 235 with just over 24 overs remaining in the Test. This was Australia’s first series win in Pakistan since 1998 when Mark Taylor won the series 1-0 and second overall when Richie Benaud also won in Lahore by seven wickets in 1959 to clinch the series 2-0.
In the ICC World Test Championship points table, Pakistan has dropped from second to fourth on 44 points, while Australia has moved to 72 points. In the ICC Test Team Rankings, both the sides have maintained the pre-series rankings and points. Australia is number-one on 119 points whereas Pakistan in sixth position on 93 points.
Australia off-spinner Nathan Lyon saved his best performance of the tour for the final day of the series when he returned figures of 37-8-83-5. This was the 19th time in 108 Tests he had taken a five-fer. Lyon’s scalps included Imam-ul-Haq (70), Azhar Ali (17), Babar Azam (55), Hasan Ali (13) and Shaheen Shah Afridi (5).
Captain Pat Cummins followed up his five for 56 in the first innings with the wickets of Fawad Alam (11), Mohammad Rizwan (0) and Naseem Shah (1) to finish with match figures of eight for 79 and walk away with the player of match award.
It was appropriate Cummins picked up the last wicket of the Test series when he cleaned up Naseem as he had led his team from the front and example. He finished the series as joint leading wicket-taker with Nathan Lyon (12).
Mitchell Starc bagged the wicket of Sajid Khan (21), but Cameron Green picked up the first wicket of the day when he had Abdullah Shafique (27) caught at the wicket to end the 77-run first wicket stand. The 46-run sixth wicket partnership between Babar and Sajid was the second best stand for Pakistan in the second innings.
Imam batted for four hours and 36 minutes during which he received 199 balls and hit five fours. Babar, who had top-scored in the first innings with 67, faced 104 balls and struck six signature fours during his 165 minutes of batting.
The fifth day pitch not only posed plenty of challenges for the batters, it also tested the two on-field umpires Aleem Dar and Ahsan Raza as well as third umpire Asif Yaqoob.
Asif overturned on-field decision against Azhar Ali despite television replays providing inconclusive evidence, while he upheld Ahsan’s decision against Imam when TV replays suggested there might have been no contact between the bat and the ball and spike could have been due to the bat hitting the pad.
With review by Imam struck down and one review available after Fawad made a disasterous call against Aleem Dar’s decision when he was plumb in front of the wicket, Rizwan opted not to challenge Aleem’s decision when TV replays showed the ball had struck his toe outside the off-stumps.
Usman Khawaja for his 496 runs with two centuries and two half-centuries was adjudged player of the series. Abdullah was the second most successful batter of the series with 397 runs, followed by Babar (390), Imam (370) and Azhar (300).
Irrespective of the outcome of the series, the three Tests were played in great spirit and only helped the two sides come closer to each other than ever before.
The second half of Australia’s tour will commence on 29 March when the two sides will meet in the first of the three ODIs. The tour will culminate with the one-off T20I on 5 April. The four white-ball matches will be played at the Gaddafi Stadium.
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