Do you ever get the feeling you’ve seen something before? The second day of the Dubai Test looked and felt very much the same as the first. The same slow unfolding in flat desert heat. The same eventual flowering. Two sessions of Pakistan dominance, one session of Australian fightback as the shadows of the stadium’s canopies wandered across the ground.
In the first two sessions of day one, Pakistan had thundered an opening partnership of 205 before losing three wickets in the last session. On day two, Asad Shafiq (80) and Haris Sohail (126) built a partnership of 150, while Pakistan’s only loss was their nightwatchman.
But as things had changed just after tea on day one, so they changed just before tea on day two. It was Australia’s debutant Marnus Labuschagne who forced that shift. Following a streak of fortune to win his place in this side, the Queensland batsman showed the value his enthusiasm could bring. After hours in the helmet at short leg, he still had pep when called upon for part-time leg-spin.
Picked as a batsman, his first contribution was to take a wicket. With three overs till tea, Labuschagne tossed a ball up, got dip, and had Asad Shafiq lunge in defence without reaching the pitch. Top-spin saw the ball leap at the shoulder of the bat, and Australian captain Tim Paine held onto a brilliant catch so fast it almost burrowed between his gloves to escape.
Not content, Labuschagne bowled on the practice wickets all the way through the tea break in the 38-degree heat, making sure his back foot was landing safely after getting a warning for treading on the pitch. Then four balls after the break he ran out Babar Azam with a swift pick-up and throw from midwicket.
At 410 for four, things had been set up for Pakistan to drop the hammer. Instead it became 418 for six, and the Australians began a belated roll with Labuschagne still fizzing down his leg-breaks from one end. Lyon found his way past Sohail, cramping him for room to top-edge a cut shot just as Imam-ul-Haq had done the day before. Right down to the blue towels tucked into their waistbands, the two left-handers were identical.
Then Aaron Finch got into the act. He had dropped the Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed at slip on eight – Labuschagne again drawing the edge – but Finch bounced back to smoke Sarfraz with a direct hit from cover while the batsmen tried to scamper a single. Australia’s fast bowlers picked up the last two wickets, and Pakistan had been curtailed for an imposing but not impossible 482.
Sohail and Shafiq had absorbed everything through the first session while Paine tried to bore them out. For a time it looked like Australia might challenge the record for the oldest ball in Test cricket, holding onto theirs for 119 overs. While it reversed early in the morning, the tactic soon became more about making it harder for Pakistan to score. It worked for a first hour worth 19 runs, but the batting pair began to hit out against Australia’s spinners thereafter.
The bowlers looked more threatening after lunch with the belated new ball, Mitchell Starc bowling bravely to maintain his pace, and Lyon accurate with his off-breaks that worried Sohail. Lyon was unlucky not to prevail with the batsman on 51, but the video review showed Sohail had charged too far down the pitch to be accurately given out lbw.
Shafiq looked all class, especially carving square on the off side. The use of a nightwatchman had bumped him back to No 6, where he has spent much of his career. Shafiq ended this innings with 2,970 runs at the position, so close to Steve Waugh’s record of 3,165.
Shafiq missed out on a century against Australia at Dubai in 2014 when he made 89, and did so again in this match. But he has 11 Test hundreds already, and took solace in watching his partner go on to make his first. “Incredible innings he played, some outstanding shots, and credit goes to him for the work he has put in. It was wonderful to watch,” Shafiq said of Sohail after play.
It was a moment of vindication for a 29-year-old who came late to Test cricket and had only shown glimpses of promise in his previous five Tests. This time Sohail battled to his 50 from 149 balls against nagging bowling, then began to drive fluidly through the covers and straight down the ground, as well as thumping spinner Jon Holland for a couple of sixes.
That meant two centuries and two fifties in Pakistan’s score, something Australia will need to match. They took the first step, Usman Khawaja in his new job as opener and Finch on debut batting through to stumps in the dusk without loss after two long days in the field.
That gives all 11 Australians a night to rest and recover, and the chance to bat on through day three. Having fought back twice, a third time isn’t impossible. This time, though, they cannot afford to take two sessions to get moving.
