Khawaja's Dream Crashes Of Hitting A Century In Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 6th Mar, 2022 ) :Though Australian batters came out strong on Pakistani bowlers, but opener Usman Khawaja fell a few runs short of hitting a century, in his birth country, on day three of the first Test, at Pindi Stadium, Rawalpindi.

After getting dropped twice, Khawaja (97 on 159 balls) was trying to play against left-arm spinner Nauman Ali when he was just three runs away from his century but was finally caught by Imam ul Haq at short leg.

The ball missed Khawaja's bat and hit his glove. He was given not out by on field umpire Aleem Dar but Dar got it wrong as the decision was reversed after Pakistan's review.

Earlier, Khawaja got away twice from getting dismissed as Fawad Alam dropped him (at 22) in Shaheen Shah Afridi's over after which the Islamabad-born cricketer went on to hit three consecutive boundaries.

He was then dropped by wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan against Nauman, when he had completed his half century.

But Sajid Ali was the first wicket-taker for Pakistan as he broke the 156-run partnership stand between Khawaja and David Warner. He bold Warner in the 41st over when he was on 68 runs. Warner's innings of 114 balls included 12 fours.

The match was called stumps as both teams left the field due to bad light with 21 overs still to bowl. Before the stumps Marnus Labuschagne hit a half century (69 not out) while Steve Smith also remains unbeaten on 24 runs.

Australia trails by 205 runs against Pakistan as the green-shirts declared at 476 for 4 on day two. However, Pakistani pacers Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah were unable to take any wicket on day three. The play for day four would begin at 9:45am on Monday.

Meanwhile, Pakistan's bowling coach Shaun Tait would reach Karachi on March 9 and will integrate with the team after the completion of his three-day isolation.