Twitter Reactions: Australia ask Pakistan to chase history with 490

The Test match has been fair to both batsmen and the bowlers while there is enough assistance for the ball bearers the bat wielders too get value for their shots and runs with patience. Early in the day, Sarfaraz Ahmed and Mohammad Amir got Pakistan some valuable runs, continuing from 97/8. The wicketkeeper batsman got to his half century while Amir also contributed 21 runs. While Sarfaraz remained unbeaten on 59, he lost all his partners and Pakistan were bowled out for 142.

Steve Smith continuing his predecessor’s legacy didn’t ask the visitors to follow on. Australia walked out to bat again and had a poor start. Both their openers David Warner and Matt Renshaw were dismissed cheaply for scores of 12 and 6 respectively. The Aussies would have certainly been worried there with Mohammad Amir and Rahat Ali picking early wickets.

Usman Khawaja who was out to a poor shot in the first innings got together with skipper Steve Smith and stabilized the sail. They had a 111-run partnership with Khawaja scoring 74 and Smith managing 63. The centurion from the first inning Peter Handscomb played another decent knock and scored a quick 35-run knock from 26 deliveries. After losing five wickets Australia declared with 202 runs and an overall lead of 490 runs.

Pakistan walked out to bat in the second innings with a mountain of a target ahead of them but had a positive intent. Though Sami Aslam didn’t last Mitchell Starc’s first spell Azhar Ali stayed there and had two brief partnerships. Towards the end of the day, Nathan Lyon scalped Babar Azam for 14. Younis Khan who bagged a duck in the first inning has played 19 balls in the second knock but is yet to nudge a single run in the game. At stumps, Pakistan still need 420 runs to win and have 8 lives in hand.

Here is how Twitter reacted during the course of the game: