Australia celebrate a wicket on Day 3 (Courtesy: Cricket Australia/Twitter)
Australia fast bowler Josh Hazlewood bowled a fiery spell on Day 3 of the third Test on Friday to deter Pakistan”s hopes after taking a first-innings lead. Hazlewood wreaked havoc in the 25th over to reduce Pakistan from 67/5 to 67/7. He dismissed Saud Shakeel, Sajid Khan, and Agha Salman to complete a triple wicket maiden over.
Hazlewood started the over by dismissing Shakeel with a delivery outside off which caught a thick edge and ended straight into the arms of Steve Smith at first slip. His next victim was Sajid, who was dismissed for a duck, with a nip-backer that pierced through the gap between his bat-pad to hit the off stump. Meanwhile, Agha was cleaned up with a pitched-up delivery outside off, which he tried to push forward defensively but caught a thick outside edge.
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Ohh Josh Hazlewood what are you doing ⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️#AUSvsPAK
pic.twitter.com/RqGYuCxF0z— Aussies Army🏏🦘 (@AussiesArmy) January 5, 2024
“I was trying to avoid eye-contact with the skipper. I have had good luck with Shakeel in this series. On this wicket, we were attacking the stumps as much as Pakistan were doing. I have noticed in this game that when we are bowling with wobble seam, we were getting a lot out of the wicket,” Hazlewood said after stumps on Day 3.
“Starc kept it nice and full and was attacking, The best time of the day was when the ball got older, it’s not falling apart but it’s doing quite a bit, it”s patchy in nature. It was quite loud during the wickets, it was quite amazing. Lead of 82, as you see the wicket, it’s quite tough. Anything around 130 would be ideal to chase. Rizwan is a dangerous player, hopefully we will see the back of him early tomorrow.”
Pakistan lead by 82 runs at stumps on Day 3 with Mohammad Rizwan and Aamer Jamal at crease.
