Abbas’s three wickets in seven balls put Pakistan on brink of victory

Pakistan's Mohammad Abbas, center, celebrates after taking the wicket of Australia's Aaron Finch during their test match in Dubai.- AP

Dubai - Australia, chasing 462, were 136/3 at stumps on day four.

 
A brilliant spell from pace bowler Mohammad Abbas put Pakistan on the brink of a massive victory in the first Test against Australia at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Wednesday.
Chasing an improbable 462 for victory, Australian openers Aaron Finch (49, 99 balls, 5 fours) and Usman Khawaja (50 not out, 120 balls, 6 fours) made a good start, putting on 87 runs for the first wicket.
But Abbas then came up with an inspired spell as Australia lost three wickets in seven balls without adding a run to the score – 87.
With those strikes, Abbas took his team a step closer to victory against the Baggy Greens.
At stumps on day four, Australia were 136/3 in 50 overs with Khawaja and debutant Travis Head (34 not out, 75 balls, 4 fours) surviving intense pressure from Pakistan bowlers after the fall of their third wicket in 31.4 overs.
So far, Head and Khawaja have added 49 runs for the fourth wicket. But Australia still require 326 runs for victory on a deteriorating wicket.
Khawaja scored his second half century of the match, after having scored 85 in the first innings.
Abbas had Finch and Mitchell Marsh (0) lbw, while Shaun Marsh (0) was caught behind by Sarfraz Ahmed.
Earlier, Pakistan declared their second innings at 181/6 in the second session of the day.
A 65-run fourth-wicket partnership between Imam-ul Haq and Haris Sohail put Pakistan in a commanding position.
Thanks to the efforts from Imam (48, 104 balls, 4 fours) and Sohail (39, 81 balls, 2 fours, 2 six), Pakistan increased their lead to 435 runs, finishing the morning session on 155/5.
At one stage, it seemed both Imam and Sohail would get big scores, but both fell to spinners Jon Holland and Marnus Labuschange.
While Imam gave a tame return catch to left-arm spinner Holland in the 39^th over of Pakistan’s second innings, part-timer Labuschagne had Sohail lbw in the very next over as the first innings centurion missed the line while trying to play a pull shot.
Asad Shafiq (41, 56 balls, 3 fours, 1 six) and Babar Azam (28 not out, 53 balls, 1 four, 1 six) then added 71 runs at good pace for the sixth wicket.
Nathan Lyon, Australia’s premier spinner, continued to struggle in this match, but Holland (3/71) looked much better with his variations and change of pace.
A six-wicket haul on debut by 33-year-old off-spinner Bilal Asif helped Pakistan restrict Australia’s first innings score to 202 all out after centuries from Mohammad Hafeez and Sohail inspired Pakistan to post a big first innings total of 482.
The second match of the two-Test series will be played in Abu Dhabi (October 16-20).
The Test series will be followed by a three-match T20I series (Abu Dhabi, October 24, and Dubai, October 26 and October 28).

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