Test drawn as Shafique, Imam dominate dour final day

Another dominant batting effort from Pakistan's newly minted opening pair might have added a veneer of lustre to the dullest of draws, but it was Australia's inability to take more than four wickets from 239 overs of toil on a dead surface that provided as big a talking point.

The draw that had loomed large for much of the first Test was confirmed with 17 overs and an hour remaining on a painfully perfunctory final day with Pakistan 0-252 in the game's only second innings, having enjoyed five hours of centre wicket batting practice.

Any notion of chasing quick runs and having a crack at Australia's top-order with the new ball was abandoned as Imam-ul-Haq (111no to add to the 157 he made in Pakistan's first innings) and Abdullah Shafique (136no) settled in for the day in most unthreatening surrounds.

In matches that have progressed beyond each team's first innings, Australia's previously least productive appearance with the ball was the rain-ruined 1921 Ashes Test at Old Trafford where England declared at 4-362 in their first dig and lost just one wicket in facing 13 overs in the second.

And in games that have seen a similar volume of cricket to this one – minimum 350 overs in total – their leanest effort was England's 3-475 in their only hit of the bat-dominated 1926 Test at Lord's.

From the 35th over which arrived shortly before the scheduled mid-point of the final day, Australia effectively went into practice mode and deployed front line spinner Nathan Lyon as well as part-timers Marnus Labuschagne, Travis Head and Steve Smith for more than an hour.

To complete the social game feel, Usman Khawaja delivered the final over but – like his better-credentialled bowling teammates – went without reward.

While the ploy could be justified given there was no point flogging fast bowlers with the next Test starting at Karachi in four days, it hardly made for compelling Test cricket.

And Pakistan's new opening combination will likely never again face such a sustained spell of mediocrity as they duly cruised to stumps, barely raising a sweat or their pulse rates.

Shafique will certainly care little as to what history thinks of the quality of bowling he faced and the conditions he faced it on, having reached his maiden Test century in just his third appearance for Pakistan which further underscored his huge potential.

Imam – who forded that same career milestone on day one – today became only the third Pakistan opener to post a century in each innings of a Test after the legendary Hanif Mohammad (against England at Dhaka in 1962) and Wajahatullah Wasti (against Sri Lanka at Lahore, 1999).

When incumbent Pakistan opener Abid Ali was diagnosed with acute coronary syndrome last December, just months after posting an unbeaten double-century against Zimbabwe, it was expected Shan Masood would take his place at the top of the order against Australia.

However Pakistan selectors opted for Imam, who had not played a Test since being knocked over for 2 and 0 against Australia in Adelaide two years ago, and the left-hander now appears set for an extended tenure at the top and a bountiful partnership with junior partner Shafique.

He should have been dismissed for 95 when he seemingly feathered an inside edge on to his pad off Lyon and the ball looped gently to short leg, but Cummins laughingly rejected suggestions for a review even though Australia had all three at their disposal in the game's final session.

When he did opt for the DRS process against Imam in Lyon's next over, suspicion of a catch down the leg side was revealed to be nothing more than ball clipping thigh pad.

It was a litany of missteps that summed up the tourists' lacklustre final day.

But even allowing for the unflinching nature of the Rawalpindi pitch that will surely come under close scrutiny from ICC match referee Ranjan Madugalle, Australia's impotence with the ball makes the case for changes in the second match at Karachi increasingly compelling.

Of particular note will be the fact Pakistan's best bowler was left-arm spinner Nauman Ali who claimed six wickets while specialist off-spinners Lyon and Sajid Khan returned combined match figures of 2-358 from 123 overs.

In his Test debut against South Africa at Karachi in January last year – the most recent Test played in the port city – Nauman took 7-73 including his maiden five-wicket haul in a match where spinners shared 18 of the 33 wickets to fall.

With weather in Karachi considerably hotter than the late-season chill that hung over Rawalpindi, and the pitch at the National Stadium tipped to favour spin above speed, leg spinner Mitchell Swepson and left-arm orthodox all-rounder Ashton Agar will surely enter discussions in a search for greater penetration and variation.

By contrast, Pakistan can justifiably claim a moral win in a game they amassed 4-728 with the bat while Australia was bowled out for 459 with none of their batters reaching three figures and their four-man pace battery finishing with the unflattering figures of 1-299 from a combined 113 overs.

Although the 20 overs they sent down between them today hardly provides a sample substantial enough to draw any definitive conclusions.

When stumps were finally prised from the concrete-like Rawalpindi pitch this evening, both teams likely felt they had gained something positive from the otherwise forgettable experience.

Certainly, Australia could point to the 140 overs worth of batting they experienced in slow, sub continental conditions having arrived in Pakistan 10 days ago as a plus, although that was cancelled out by their lack of bowling potency in both innings.

But Pakistan surely gained a great deal more, with their top-order batters handling their rival's vaunted pace attack as well as principal spinner Lyon with apparent ease on the Rawalpindi pitch that history suggested would assist quicks, until reality revealed otherwise.

It would have proved a calamity if the hosts had found themselves on a pace-friendly deck for the series opener against Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood, and slipped 0-1 down in the three-Test Qantas Tour.

Australia might have been welcomed with open arms after a 24-year absence from Pakistan, and afforded presidential-level security to ensure their safety but it would have been several steps beyond hospitable to roll out a first Test pitch that provided them with a fast-track to victory.

Given Pakistan had also lost three key players in the days prior to the Test starting – all-rounder Faheem Ashraf (hamstring) and fast bowlers Hasan Ali (adductor) and Haris Rauf (COVID) – their superiority in the most musty of stalemates ensures they head to Karachi tomorrow with a spring in their collective step.

Australia entered the final day fully expecting a drawn result, but nursing a stated ambition for their lower-order batters to hang around and perhaps put on sufficient runs to get them in the lead and apply some pressure to Pakistan when they eventually returned to the batting crease.

That dream was eclipsed in 20 minutes of capitulation this morning as the visitors lost 3-10 in the space of 19 balls to be bowled out 17 runs in arrears.

Cummins was the first to fall, drilling Nauman's third ball of the day into the hands of Imam at extra cover to gift the left-arm spinner the third five-wicket haul of his eight-Test career to date having debuted as a 34-year-old 14 months ago.

Starc then departed having added a single to his overnight score, trapped so palpably lbw by a yorker fired in from fellow left-armer Shaheen Shah Afridi that he was all-but off the field by the time the DRS call he'd activated as an act of pure hope had been summarily dismissed.

And next ball, Lyon's favourite sweep shot failed to make contact and he too was adjudged lbw to complete his mature-age rival spinner's career-best Test figures.

Nauman's 6-107 from 38.1 overs also represented the best return by a Pakistan bowler on home soil against Australia since leg spinner Abdul Qadir – the man whose name adorns the newly minted series trophy alongside Richie Benaud's – claimed 7-142 at Faisalabad in 1982.

Having failed in their aspiration to overtake Pakistan's first innings total, Australia's hopes of salvaging something worthwhile from the 94 overs available was to pluck a few quick wickets and create some doubts in the home team's top-order ahead of the next Test starting Saturday.

That plan also failed to materialise as Imam and Shafique were as untroubled against pace and spin as they had proved on day one, and duly registered their second 100-run opening stand of the game.

It's a feat last achieved against Australia more than 50 years ago, when obdurate England duo Geoff Boycott and John Edrich managed unions of 107 and 103 in the 1971 Ashes Test at Adelaide Oval.

Imam followed his day one ton by reaching an equally fluent half-century (off 97 balls) in the second with his only overt misstep a top-edged pull shot off Cummins which – in keeping with the tone of the day – flew high in the air but fell to earth between two converging fielders in the deep.

Shafique continued his remarkable start in Test cricket by completing his half-century two overs later, the 22-year-old's third score of 50 or more in his five innings since debuting against Bangladesh last November.

That tally would have showed four 50s had Shafique not thrown away his hand on day one when he tried to belt Lyon over the in-field shortly before lunch having scored 44, and the right-hander's competence against pace and spin ensures his will be a prized wicket for the remainder of the series.

Assuming there are more wickets that fall.

Qantas Tour of Pakistan 2022

Pakistan squad: Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (vc), Abdullah Shafique, Azhar Ali, Fawad Alam, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Wasim, Naseem Shah, Nauman Ali, Sajid Khan, Saud Shakeel, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shan Masood, Zahid Mahmood.

Australia Test squad: Pat Cummins (c), Ashton Agar, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, Mark Steketee, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner. On standby: Sean Abbott, Brendan Doggett, Nic Maddinson, Matthew Renshaw

March 4-8: Match drawn

March 12-16: Second Test, Karachi

March 21-25: Third Test, Lahore

Australia ODI and T20 squad: Aaron Finch (c), Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Jason Behrendorff, Alex Carey, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Marsh, Ben McDermott, Kane Richardson, Steve Smith, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa

March 29: First ODI, Rawalpindi

March 31: Second ODI, Rawalpindi

April 2: Third ODI, Rawalpindi

April 5: Only T20I, Rawalpindi

All matches to be broadcast in Australia on Fox Cricket and Kayo Sports