Australia's ace off-spinner Nathan Lyon created history on Day 4 of the first Test against Pakistan on December 17, Sunday. Australia's spin wizard notched his remarkable 500th Test wicket at Perth Stadium to bowl his team to a stunning 360-run victory over Pakistan.
Lyon achieved this mighty milestone in his 123rd Test by dismissing Faheem Ashraf. Shortly after, he surpassed the 500-wicket mark by taking Aamer Jamal's wicket in the same over. The 36-year-old Lyon is now only the third Australian, following the late Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath, to achieve this feat.
Lyon joined an elite list of spinners with 500-plus Test wickets, including Muttiah Muralidaran, Shane Warne, and Anil Kumble, as only the fourth spinner to mark this feat.
Since his debut against Sri Lanka in 2011, Lyon has amassed an impressive record, including 23 five-wicket hauls and four 10 wicket hauls in Tests. He is also notable for playing in 100 consecutive Tests for Australia, a streak broken earlier this year due to a calf strain during the Ashes, marking the first injury in his successful career.
Moreover, Lyon holds the distinction of being the top wicket-taker in the World Test Championship. He is the only bowler in the tournament to have taken over 150 wickets, and he leads with the most five-wicket hauls (nine).
Talking about the match, in the opening Test of the series against Pakistan, Australia delivered an impressive all-round performance, defeating the visitors by a massive 360 runs in Perth. Setting a challenging target of 450 runs for Pakistan in their second innings, Australia swiftly dismissed them for a mere 89 runs, securing a dominant win.
Saud Shakeel remained the top scorer for Pakistan in the second innings with 24 runs, while the second-highest contribution to the total came from extras, amounting to 16 runs. Meanwhile, former Pakistan captain Babar Azam and Imam-ul-Haq were the only other players to achieve double figures, scoring 14 and 10 runs respectively. Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood were the pick of the bowlers for Australia as the pace duo chipped in with three wickets each. Meanwhile, Lyon took two wickets, captain Pat Cummins contributed with just one scalp, in which he got rid of Babar Azam.
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