ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's marathon batting defense in the drawn second test match against Australia has raised the hopes of head coach Saqlain Mushtaq ahead of the series decider.
The third test starts Monday in Lahore.
“Defending over 1,000 balls was something very special,” Saqlain said Friday. “Lots of people were thinking it was impossible, but all the players and support staff in the dressing room had a firm belief that we are not going to give this game to Australia.”
Australia was clear favorite to go 1-0 up in the three-match series after it set Pakistan a huge target of 506 in a minimum 172 overs at Karachi’s National Stadium under hot conditions.
But Pakistan captain Babar Azam played an epic knock of 196 off 425 balls in more than 10 hours while Abdullah Shafique (96) and Mohammad Rizwan (104 not out) also batted for long periods to deny Australia victory. Pakistan finished at 443-7, falling short by 63 runs in what would have been a world record chase.
“It will be unfair if I single out one player who stood out,” Saqlain said. “The whole team needs to be praised for showing such a character against the world No. 1 team, here on the back of a 4-0 Ashes win at home.”
Australia had dominated for three days at Karachi with the reverse swing of Mitchell Starc. Pakistan was bowled out for 148 and conceded a massive 408-run first innings lead after the visitors had declared at 556-9.
Babar stood firm against the pace of Starc and Pat Cummins in the second innings and also kept the two spinners -- Nathan Lyon and debutant leg-spinner Mitchell Swepson -- at bay for more than five sessions of impeccable and patient batting.
Babar shared a double-century stand with Shafique and then his century partnership with Rizwan took the game deep into the last session.
Despite losing Babar with 12 overs remaining, Rizwan saw off the tricky spin of Lyon and Swepson with No. 9 batter Nauman Ali remaining unbeaten on 0 while confidently facing 18 balls. Rizwan later called Nauman’s scoreless innings as good as his century.
“It (Rizwan’s comments) sums up the feelings of the entire team,” Saqlain said. “The aim was to fight for the team.”
Australia’s first tour to Pakistan since 1998 started off with a tame drawn first test at Rawalpindi where the Pindi Cricket Stadium was rated as “below average” by the ICC.
Saqlain said the epic draw had increased the confidence of Pakistan to surprise Australia.
“Before this series our mission was to beat Australia and win the series,” Saqlain said. “It’s not that we are just saying it, we will try our best and produce a result in our favor in Lahore.”
Epic draw raises Pakistan's hopes of series win vs Australia
https://arab.news/rhagj
Epic draw raises Pakistan's hopes of series win vs Australia
- Australia’s first tour to Pakistan since 1998 started off with a tame drawn first test at Rawalpindi
- Head coach Saqlain says the epic draw in second test at Karachi had increased the confidence of Pakistan
Marmoush, Salah strike as Egypt edge out holders Ivory Coast in quarter-final
- Egypt wasted little time in taking the lead as Marmoush scored in the fourth minute
- That set up a siege of the Egyptian goal in the final 15 minutes but they held out to advance
AGADIR, Morocco: Omar Marmoush netted the opener and Mohamed Salah scored the decisive goal as Egypt ended Ivory Coast’s reign with a narrow 3-2 triumph in Saturday’s Africa Cup of Nations quarter-final.
Center back Rami Rabia was the other scorer for the Egyptians, who had little possession at the Grande Stade Agadir but took their chances with clinical precision and held on grimly to book a semifinal meeting with Senegal on Wednesday.
An own goal from Ahmed Fatouh and a late effort by Guela Doue proved insufficient for the Ivory Coast, winners of the tournament on home soil two years ago but now deposed as African champions.
Egypt, who have won a record seven Cup of Nations titles, wasted little time in taking the lead as Marmoush scored in the fourth minute after Hamdi Fathy pinched the ball from Franck Kessie in the midfield, allowing Emam Ashour to thread a pinpoint ball to the sprinting Marmoush. He still needed to shrug off the attentions of defender Odilon Kossounou before slotting home.
But it quickly became clear the Ivorians were going to dominate possession, showing much more physical strength on the ball but without setting up clear chances.
Egypt went 2-0 up in the 32nd minute when Rabia rose above the defenders to head his side further ahead from a corner.
The Ivory Coast, who had 70 percent of possession in the first half, reduced the deficit eight minutes later when teenager Yann Diomande’s freekick near the corner took a slight brush off Kossounou’s head and ricocheted off the knee of full back Fatouh and into the net.
SALAH FINISHED OFF CLEVER MOVE
The Ivorians had come from 2-0 down to beat Gabon 3-2 earlier in the tournament but hopes of turning the scoreline around soon after the re-start were stymied by a simply created, but superbly finished, goal for Salah seven minutes after the break.
Rabia was well inside his own half when he chipped the ball over the top of the Ivorian defensive line, allowing Ashour to run onto it and hit an accurate pass with the outside of his right boot into the path of Salah to score.
An Ivorian comeback was still on when Doue touched home at the end of a goalmouth scramble in the 73rd minute.
That set up a siege of the Egyptian goal in the final 15 minutes but they held out to advance.
Earlier on Saturday, Nigeria overpowered Algeria 2-0 in Marrakech and will take on hosts Morocco in the other semifinal.
