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Pakistan bowlers toiled hard in the middle as Australian batters extended their first innings score after opener Usman Khawaja's innings. Alex Carey's 93 coupled with cameos from visitors' middle-order and lower-order batters helped them post 505/8 at National Stadium, Karachi.
Dropping nightwatchman Nathan Lyon’s catch haunted Pakistan fast bowlers. Lyon shared a 54-run partnership for the fourth-wicket with Khawaja. He scored 38 runs from 62 deliveries, his second-highest score in the format. The veteran off-spinner became Faheem Ashraf's only victim of the day.
Travis head got a decent start as well but was trapped in front of the wickets by Sajid Khan for a score of 23. Khawaja was the next to fall after a brilliant 160 in his country of origin.
He faced 369 deliveries to score his 160. His knock comprised of 15 fours and one six. The southpaw became Sajid's second and final victim of the day. Cameron Green missed another chance to score his first half-century as Nauman Ali knocked his stumps. Green managed to score 28 runs from 73 deliveries.
Carey took the charge against Pakistan bowlers while Mitchell Starc held on to one end. Nauman dropped Starc off his own bowling which extended Pakistan fielders stay at the crease. Starc remained unbeaten for 28 runs from 95 deliveries. He supported wicketkeeper-batter Carey as he scored 93 runs from 159 deliveries. The southpaw scored seven fours and two sixes in his 93-run knock. Carey was on his way to maiden Test hundred but got bowled by part-time bowler Babar Azam.
Pat Cummins came to the crease late in the third session but did not score a single run off the 10 deliveries he faced. Australia will look to add as many runs as they can to the total and then put pressure on hosts. Earlier Australia started the day with an overnight score of 251/3. The visitors added 254 more runs to their score on Day 2.
“You want to make those triple figures. Quite an important knock for the team in the situation,” Carey said after the day’s play.
“We will see what the skipper does tomorrow. If we can get as many runs as possible in the first innings, hopefully the pitch will have opportunities for 20 wickets. The more runs you have now the better because it may deteriorate towards Day 4,” the 30-year-old added.
