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It’s possible that the scorecard understates
Pakistan’s chances in this final Test at the SCG. One ball gave Pakistan a
glimmer of hope for a successful third day amid the 47 otherwise uneventful
overs that were sent down on a gloomy second day in Sydney. And the man who
bowled it is the conduit for everything wonderful that passes through here.
Agha Salman took David Warner’s outside edge in the
25th over when he landed one on leg stump that frayed from the surface,
drifting in, then bouncing and spinning away. Shortly after debutant Saim Ayub
had placed a catch there, Babar Azam grabbed onto it on his first slip. With
Salman at one end of the pitch, what had seemed dead at the beginning of the
day suddenly burst with potential.
“For spinners, there is help if you put the ball
in the right areas, there is assistance, and there will be more as the Test
match goes on,” Salman said at the press conference. “You just have
to bowl in the right areas as much as you can and I was trying to do that.
Sajid [Khan] was getting some turn as well but the drift I was getting was
greater.”
Perhaps demonstrating how alive the visiting side
feels about the match is Salman’s enthusiastic celebration after taking the
wicket. Players who had been in a state of resigned dejection for the past hour
became energised when Babar held on to the catch, almost perfectly, and Salman
leaped into the air, releasing pent-up celebration and joy at the same time.
And there was support and encouragement from the
opposing side as well. Usman Khawaja referred to it as “a ripper of a
ball” and said he wouldn’t be shocked if spin continued to gain more
significance as the Test progressed, having grown up on these tracks.
Going further back, Pakistan’s last win in Australia
came here at the SCG in 1995, with Saqlain Mushtaq and Mushtaq Ahmed combining
for 11 wickets. Khawaja suggested this pitch was more of a throwback to several
years ago rather than a repeat of the more recent surfaces at this ground.
“This is as close to an SCG pitch that I grew up
playing on,” Khawaja said. “It used to be quite a slow wicket once
the ball lost its shine and and it spun a bit, with balls staying low. If we
keep getting play on to, I expect it to deteriorate, it’s already taking turn.
I think it’s a very good wicket.”