The second Test between Pakistan and Australia is currently underway at the iconic National Stadium in Karachi. The visitors dominated Day 1 proceedings, courtesy of Usman Khawaja’s sensational batting, who smashed his 11th Test century.
After losing two wickets for 91, Khawaja and Steve Smith partnered to get Australia out of trouble. The pair almost batted nearly two sessions, forming a dominating 159 runs partnership for the third wicket.
However, moments before the stumps on the opening day, Smith departed for a well made 72, failing once again to convert his half-century into a triple-figure mark. The Aussie vice-captain was dismissed in the penultimate over before the end of the day’s play when Faheem Ashraf grabbed a one-handed stunner at the slip cordon.
It all happened when Hasan Ali bowled a length delivery, and Smith tried to punch it off the back foot but ended up getting a thick edge. The ball flew quickly in the slips, where Faheem dived quickly low to his left and grabbed a one-handed blinder.
Here is the video:
Is this one of the greatest slip catches ever? 😲#BoysReadyHain l #PAKvAUS pic.twitter.com/5NBNiophW0
— Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) March 12, 2022
After the end of the opening day’s play, the centurion Khawaja had explained the wicket was good to bat on and threw light on his crucial partnership with Smith. The Queenslander mentioned it was challenging to bat in the second session as the red-cherry started to reverse and revealed that Pakistan bowled negative line in the final session, and they (batters) didn’t play any rash shots to throw their wickets.
“We (Himself and Smith) had a pretty good partnership before that wicket, but we still have some batting to come. The wicket looks pretty nice and a good one to bat on. It started to reverse in the second session, which made scoring pretty difficult. They bowled a negative line in the last session, but we didn’t play any rash shots,” said Khawaja.
