Australia's pace spearhead Mitchell Starc delivered a ripping inswinger to castle Pakistan opener Abdullah Shafique in the second innings of the ongoing New Year's Test in trademark fashion on Friday, January 5. Starc has been all over Shafique in the Sydney Test as the right-handed batter has been seen struggling to put the tall left-arm seamer away.
Batting on a pair, Shafique was very nimble on his feet in the second innings and appeared indecisive when it came to committing to his front foot. The last ball of the first over of Pakistan's second innings led to Shafique's downfall as Starc produced an absolute peach to send Shafique walking for a pair.
Pitched on the good length, marginally outside the off-stump channel, Starc's inswinger jagged back sharply off the surface and cannoned into Shafique's stumps. The Sialkot-born's bat came wide from the first slip and couldn't keep the thunderbolt at bay as the ball sneaked in through the wide gap between bat and pad and kissed the top of the off and middle pole.
Watch Mitchell Starc's thunderbolt to Abdullah Shafique:
Barring a half-century in the Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), Shafique's ongoing tour of Australia has largely yielded poor returns. The 24-year-old has scored 110 runs in three games at an underwhelming average of 18.33.
While he opened in the first two Tests in Perth and Melbourne alongside Imam-ul-Haq, he was asked to pair up with Saim Ayub in the Sydney Test.
Pakistan's Playing XI:
Abdullah Shafique, Saim Ayub, Shan Masood (c), Babar Azam, Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Agha Salman, Aamer Jamal, Sajid Khan, Hasan Ali, Mir Hamza
Australia's Playing XI:
David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Alex Carey (wk), Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins (c), Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood
