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A battling century from Younis Khan and loss of overs to rain had Pakistan eyeing a draw, but Australia finished Day 3 of the SCG Test in the driver’s seat. Follow all the action of the fourth day’s play on The Roar from 10am (AEDT).
Rain ruined nearly half of the day’s play in Sydney, but the remaining time was enough to see Younis and Nathan Lyon come to the party for their respective teams.
Younis became the first cricketer in the history of the game to score a century in each of the Test-playing countries – if we include the UK and West Indies as one – when he notched up the 34th ton of his career.
It was a fine blend of attack and defence, a knock that was typically Younis Khan, especially when in full flow, and one which has likely extended his career after he scored just one fifty in the final eight innings of 2016.
Pakistan however, probably should have ended the day in a much better position, especially when the in-form Azhar Ali had the side in a position of strength with his third-wicket stand of 146 with Younis.
The pair had issues with their running between the wickets on the second day as well, but survived David Warner’s fielding misses. They were not so lucky on Day 3, as Mitchell Starc and Peter Handscomb combined well to run Azhar out.
From there on, none of the other batsmen afforded Younis the support he needed.
Captain Misbah-ul-Haq played a shot he would like to forget in a hurry, Asad Shafiq was brilliantly caught by Steven Smith off Steve O’Keefe, and then Sarfaraz Ahmed nicked one to the gully off Mitchell Starc to reduce Pakistan to six wickets down.
Younis was still at the crease when Lyon bagged a couple more wickets, lower-order batsmen Mohammad Amir and Wahab Riaz.
Rain is predicted for the fourth day but armed with a good lead, Australia will look to quickly bat again and gain another 200-odd runs.
With the pitch becoming tougher as the game has worn on, Pakistan will need to bat out of their skins to then save themselves from the ignominy of a 3-0 whitewash.
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