A heated-up On Friday, Pat Cummins secured five wickets and ten for Australia in the second Test, securing a decisive 79-run triumph that secured the series against a resilient Pakistan.
The tourists, trailing by 317 runs, fought valiantly in pursuit of their first Test victory in Australia since 1995.
However, they were dismissed for 237 runs, having lost their last five wickets for 18 runs.
Cummins was the primary destructor, accumulating 5-49 in addition to 5-48 in his first innings; this was only his second 10-wicket haul in Test cricket.
Mitchell Starc contributed 4-55 runs as the tailwinded them following spirited contributions from Shan Masood (60), Agha Salman (50), and Babar Azam (41).
It was always going to be a difficult assignment, given that England reached a record-breaking third innings run chase of 332 runs at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in 1928, with no other team surpassing 300.
Abdullah Shafique, an opener, departed for four runs during a testy session preceding lunch. Usman Khawaja caught him in the slips off Starc after a period of intense duress.
Iman-ul-Haq withstood the initial onslaught, but was no match for Cummins after the interval, who dismissed him with a penetrating delivery that cut back and bowled him out for 12.
The umpire called Masood out LBW on 12, but the decision was reversed upon review, and he returned to his rhythm immediately thereafter.
Although he was struck in the ribcage with a difficult-to-treat ball, he remained unfazed and rushed to a courageous fifty before Cummins once more rescued Australia by offering Steve Smith an edge.
Much was riding on Azam’s shoulders as the team’s leading batsman, and he appeared to be in excellent health.
However, after reaching 41, Josh Hazlewood was hit by a jagged delivery that collided with his off stump.
Mohammad Rizwan, who reached 35 off the batsman’s glove, also appeared perilous until Alex Carey caught the ball behind the stumps after it deflected off Cummins’s adroit fingers.
Starc completed the cleanup after Aamer Jamal and Shaheen Shah Afridi were dismissed in short succession by Cummins.
Rebounced off
The Pakistanis increased their score after the hosts were dismissed for 262 in their second innings subsequent to resuming on 187-6.
With 4-32, Mir Hamza was the most effective of the bowlers, while Afridi took 4-76.
Carey amassed 53 runs to assist Australia in establishing an overnight lead and quell speculation regarding his form following his dismissal from the one-day squad in favor of Josh Inglis.
He resumed on sixteen, after Australia had recovered from 16-4 deficits with the assistance of Mitchell Marsh’s aggressive 96 and Smith’s courageous 50.
Carey, who scored his first and only hundred in a Test match in Melbourne a year ago, inspired confidence with two consecutive fours in the opening over bowled by Hasan Ali.
On the contrary, Starc survived perilously and was dismissed for nine runs, while the remarkable Afridi scored the breakthrough on a pitch that continued to present some difficulty for the bowlers.
Azam capitalised on the acute slip opportunity that arose following Starc’s miscued drive.
Rizwan caught Cummins behind for 16 after he hit a breeze off Jamal, whereas Lyon hit two consecutive fours off Jamal before being dismissed for 11 three deliveries later.
Carey reached his sixth fifty in Tests prior to being dismissed with Hamza leading by one.