Resilient Pakistan force a fifth day

What loomed as a perfunctory Test victory for Australia after three dominant days has transformed into a long-odds chance for an historic Pakistan win after a fluctuating, never-ending day at the Gabba.

A memorable century from Pakistan's Asad Shafiq, who resumes in the morning unbeaten on 100, has lifted his team to 8-382 and an unlikely 108 runs from victory entering the final day.

Having begun their fourth innings pursuing an unprecedented 490 against a pink ball that is supposed to make life tough for batters.

A combination of time lost to rain and the umpires' belief that a result might be possible (with Pakistan seven wickets down) meant a day's play that was scheduled to end at 8pm was extended past 10pm local time.

The arrival of a heavy storm midway through the afternoon led many a retrospective expert to query why Steve Smith had chosen not to send Pakistan straight back to the crease after they were bowled out on Saturday.

As if the Test would have been safely over by the time the deluge came and washed out almost an entire session.

However, the prudence of Smith's decision not to enforce the follow-on started to look inspired when today's final session began under the Gabba floodlights, and comparatively clear – if dark – Brisbane skies.

With a shiny new pink ball just two overs old in their hands, the fabled night time bowling conditions in their favour and the bottom half of Pakistan's historically wobbly batting order in their sights, the match could hardly have been better poised.

From the home team's perspective, at least.

But the anticipated scythe through the bottom half of a Pakistan batting order that fell apart like an overcooked Christmas turkey on Friday evening proved infuriatingly elusive. Or smugly misplaced, depending on allegiances.

For the final session that was expected to deliver Australia a one-nil series lead instead yielded just three wickets and 179 runs, with Pakistan posting the highest fourth innings Test total at the Gabba.

Not because the Australians squandered their opportunities.

The only glaring blemishes as they ground unconvincingly towards a deserved victory was Smith's pair of misses at second slip.

The first being a stinging chance at second slip from Josh Hazlewood's first over post-dinner, and the second a more straightforward off Mitchell Starc as the clock ticked towards 9.30pm.

Rather it was an inability to create chances with any frequency despite all the advantages seemingly loaded in their favour, and because of some uncharacteristically resolute Pakistan batting.

That came with its share of good fortune, as Asad Shafiq hung tough for his accomplished ton, and his tail-end support team of Sarfraz Ahmed (25 from 41 balls) and Mohammad Amir (48 from 63) and Wahab Riaz (30 from 56) swatted and swished their way through what was always likely to be a lost cause.

But has proved a bravely elongated one, taking a day-night Test in Australia into unforeseen territory – a fifth day.

The intransigence that Pakistan's top-order had displayed on Saturday evening became full-blown defiance on Sunday, and frustration among the Australia bowlers increased commensurately.

As the pink ball grew softer and the batters' self-belief bloomed stronger, the mood of the impatient locals began to mirror that of the apocalyptic black grounds that bore down on the Gabba.

And by the time they unleashed their contents in a 10-minute deluge that took more than an hour and a half to clean up, the tourists had effectively negotiated almost half of the playing day without the loss of a wicket.

Azhar Ali – the owner of a triple-century in Pakistan's only other experience of day-night Test cricket – and Younis Khan had steadily and stoically carried their team to 2-131 when the storm hit.

Still a nonsensical 359 runs from claiming a win, but more than 56 overs nearer to saving themselves from a loss than they were when the innings got underway on Saturday night.

And without an all-rounder at his disposal, Steve Smith was compelled to call on part-time spinner Nic Maddinson as his alternative option when the brute force of Starc, the nagging accuracy of Hazlewood and Jackson Bird and the sharp turn of Nathan Lyon could find no breaches in the Pakistan wall.

The loss of around 100 minutes to Brisbane's temperamental summer weather did nothing to improve the humour of Australia's bowlers and they returned from the break under cloud and the threat of more rain pending.

Starc immediately sent down four consecutive bouncers to Azhar who earlier in the day had been struck on the neck when he ducked into the line of a short ball from Hazlewood and received treatment and counselling from concerned medical staff.

But in his next over Starc seemed to lull the opener, whose innings by that stage had soaked up more than four hours, into a state of reassurance by pitching three consecutive deliveries in the batsman's half.

One of which Azhar drove with a flourish to the mid-on boundary.

Then Starc reverted to type and caught Azhar on the hop, or more accurately on the skip across his stumps and able to do no more than glove a catch through keeper Matthew Wade.

It was the crack for which the Australians had been so anxiously searching, with the feeling that the application of the same level of pressure could see it quickly widen into a fissure.

And while it did not exactly open up at pace as Pakistan's veteran pair Younis and Misbah-ul-Haq battled to hold it together, the opening ultimately grew.

Quick Single: Younis slammed for 'ridiculous' dismissal

Initially when Misbah, who has looked every one of his 42 years 204 days against the Australia attack in this Test, waved at a ball from Bird that he was tricked into believing was closer to him than actuality revealed.

The captain's five boundary-free runs (on top of the four he scored in the first innings before nicking off to the same bowler) had come from 34 balls in the best part of an hour.

During which time he looked almost as unconvincing as he was unproductive.

His departure left the improbable salvage job in the hands of Younis, the man who has scored more centuries in the fourth innings of Test matches (five) than any previous player the game has seen.

And for a time, it seemed the 39-year-old might just be able to summon another of those back-to-the-wall knocks to lift his team nearer to redemption if not quite carry them safety.

However, the manner of his departure proved as unlikely as it was warmly welcomed by the Australians who understood the impediment that the former national captain posed while he remained at the crease.

For all the strategy and energy that had gone into finding a way through his solid if uncomplicated technique on a pitch that was offering little other than bounce to the bowlers, it's safe to assume the chance of coaxing a reverse sweep from Younis wasn't high among them.

Especially given the degree of risk of that shot, in a situation that had brought little other than circumspection in the 75 overs to that point.

But that's what Younis dusted off having reached 65 from almost 150 balls faced, and seemed only mildly surprised when the result was a faint edge that rebounded on to his upper arm and eventually to Smith standing elated at slip.

At first, the Australians seemed so disbelieving of what had unfolded they thought umpire Ian Gould was about to deny their appeal.

Until they realised that Younis, with a quizzical shake of his head, had walked before the finger could be raised.

It wasn't a moment quite as seismic as Mike Gatting's brain snap in the 1987 World Cup Final that consigned the stroke to a life of ill repute.

Pakistan XI: Sami Aslam, Azhar Ali, Babar Azam, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq (c), Asad Shafiq, Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), Yasir Shah, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Amir, Rahat Ali

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