Khawaja Leads the Way as Australian Cricketers Dig Deep in Record Breaking Draw

Usman Khawaja has produced the innings of his career to guide Australia to a draw that never seemed possible in their 1st Test against Pakistan in Dubai.

After reaching his team’s highest score of 85 in the first innings, Khawaja faced a monumental 302 balls to score 141 runs in the second innings to earn himself man of the match honours. In an amazing statistic, Khawaja spent all but 2 hours of the match on the field as either a batsman or a fielder!

The draw will go down as one of the most unlikely escapes in Test history. The 139.5 overs were the most amount of overs Australia have ever batted in a 4th innings to hold on for a draw.

Newly appointed captain Tim Paine was tremendous in his 61 no off 194 balls and took up the anchor role perfectly once Khawaja was finally dismissed with 15 overs remaining in the day.

Things did look slightly shaky at this point when Mitchell Starc and Peter Siddle were both dismissed by Yasir Shah in the one over. It was not to be for the hosts though as Paine and Lyon held on for the last 12 overs of the day to secure the draw.

Anything but a loss for the Aussies looked highly unlikely leading up to the final day. The first innings saw Pakistan post 482, thanks largely to centuries to Hafeez and Sohail. Australia will be left to rue their dismal first innings batting display where they were skittled for 202. Accurate swing bowler Abbas finished with 4-29.

Pakistan’s defensive tactics within the second innings have come under criticism after the shock final result. Captain Shafraz Ahmed chose not to enforce the follow on and instead allowed his team to bat for what now looks like far too long of a period before declaring 6-181. This left Australia with and record breaking 461 runs required for victory. Slightly more manageable was the 4 sessions to bat through for the draw.

The second and deciding Test between the two sides begins on the 16/10 in Abu Dhabi.

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By Dustin Spriggs