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- Published: January 6, 2024 14:26
New Delhi: Australia and Pakistan, the two teams with poles apart luck in the year of 2023, walked into the Sydney Cricket Ground, on January 3, for the final test match of the three match series, with very different emotions.
The Aussie took on the field to start the year of 2024 to continue their momentum from 2023, and bid their legend David Warner, farewell in a fitting manner.
On the other hand, the Pakistani team wanted to start fresh in the new calendar year and end their losing streak in the Land Down Under.
However, the gods of cricket decided to side with the final match bound Warner, as his team registered a convincing eight wickets win against the visitors to finish the series 3-0 in Australia’s favour.
The day 4 drama
Pakistan who after winning the toss and decided to bat first, put on a total of 313 runs on the board thanks to, Md. Rizwan (88) and Aamer Jamal (82), playing the rescue knocks, in between the 5 wicket haul chaos by the opposition skipper Pat Cummins.
Aamer Jamal once again took the charge in bowling, taking 6 Aussie wickets and giving Pakistan 14 runs lead, despite Marnus Labuschagne (60) and Mitchell Marsh (54), playing brilliant knocks.
However, the Aussie pacer, Josh Hazelwood made sure that Pakistan is on their knees heading into the fourth day of the game, as Pakistan finished day 3, with 68 for 7 on board.
Pakistan resumed day four with, 81 runs lead in their bank, but despite, Md. Rizwan (28) and Aamer Jamal (18), attempt to replicate the first innings heroics, the visitors were bundled out on 115, giving the hosts an easy 130 runs target to chase.
Australia started the chase in a forgettable manner, as in form Usman Khawaja was dismissing without opening his account by Sajid Khan.
However, the man of the hour, David Warner (57) and Marnus Labuschagne (60), played the match winning knocks to take the Aussie team over the line on the fourth day with eight wickets to spare.
Check the full highlights from day four below:
Pakistan head coach reacts
The Pakistan cricket team’s head coach and veteran Pakistani player, Mohammed Hafeez, talked to the media after the match and gave his take on the outcome of the series.
Upon being asked about his thoughts on getting whitewashed in the series, Hafeez said, they did not want to end the series 3-0, as it is disheartening. However, the coach believed that their team had moments of domination throughout the series, but the players failed to capitalize on those moments, which resulted in this disappointing scoreline.
The former Pakistani international also opened about skipper Shan Masood not giving the ball early to Aamer Jamal, who was an exception throughout the match.
Hafeez said that it was the captain’s choice as he wanted to use the advantage of the pitch, and hence the decision to go towards the off-spinners instead of pacer Aamer Jamal.
Check out the full press conference below:
Pat Cummins on Warner and the next opener
The Aussie skipper, Pat Cummins, during his media interaction session, gave his thoughts on the retirement of David Warner and who the next opener might be.
Cummins, while speaking about Warner, pointed out that the Aussie southpaw has been an integral part of the Australian team set-up for last decade, and the thoughts of him not walking alongside Warner for the national anthems before any match is not a pleasant feeling at all.
Upon being asked about who can take Warner’s place as the new opener on the team, Cummins said that he saw Steven Smith being open to fill the opening slot in the southpaw’s absence, but he has not given any real thought about this fact and will take some time, before coming to any conclusion.