Pakistan’s first home Test against Australia in nearly a quarter century was headed for a draw, while Nauman Ali took four wickets on Monday as the tourists reached 449-7 on the fourth day of the rain-hit match in Rawalpindi. When the umpires called off the game with three overs bowled, Mitchell Starc was on 19 and captain Pat Cummins was on four – just 27 behind Pakistan’s first innings total of 476-4 with Australia.
Australia is on its first tour of Pakistan since 1998, which had earlier refused to travel over security fears.
But with no rain forecast for Tuesday, the prospect of a result in the opening Test of the three-match series looks bleak, except for the collapse of Pakistan’s batting in the second innings, which still looked full of runs.
The Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium pitch has scored 925 runs for just 13 wickets, and is unlikely to deliver the spin required for the result.
Nevertheless, Pakistan bagged five wickets on Monday, including top-order Test batsman Marnus Labuschagne (90) and veteran Steve Smith (78), with Nauman scoring 4-107 in 37 precise overs.
Nauman broke the fifth-wicket 81-run stand between Smith and Cameron Green (48) as the young all-rounder was caught with a wrong sweep at leg slip by Iftikhar Ahmed.
Australia were looking for a quick run to advance in the first innings, but were dealt a further blow as Nauman dismissed Smith with a wrong sweep, which caught the glove and fell into the safe hands of wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan.
Smith hit eight fours while batting two minutes less than five hours.
Alex Carey scored 19 before he was bowled by Naseem Shah in dim light.
Earlier, overnight rain had submerged the stadium’s outfield and the umpires allowed play to resume only after lunch.
Australia, 271-2 overnight, reached 288-2 when Pakistan took the second new ball after 80 overs – and were immediately rewarded.
Left-arm pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi took an edge off Labuschagne’s delivery, which was dived into the slips by Abdullah Shafiq to his right.
Labuschagne lasted 190 minutes, during which he hit 12 fours.
Travis Head, after being man-of-the-series in Australia’s 4-0 Ashes win in January, hit two boundaries before driving off spinner Nauman and was caught by Rizwan.
Shaheen (1-80), Naseem (1-89) and Sajid (1-122) were other successful Pakistan bowlers.
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The second Test of the series is from March 12 to 16 in Karachi and the third in Lahore from March 21 to 25.
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