Skipper Pat Cummins joined the list of greats as he became Australia’s 10th leading wicket-taker in Test format following his match-winning spells against Pakistan in the second Test.
Cummins claimed a five-wicket haul each in both innings against the visitors which played a crucial role in Australia’s series win over the Asian Giants.
With 10 wickets to his name in a single Test, Cummins eclipsed former Australia spinner Richard Benaud’s tally of 248 wickets and moved to the 10th spot with 252 wickets to his name.
Cummins also has the second-best average with 22.32 in Australia’s top 10 leading wicket-takers in Test format. Only iconic Glenn McGrath who sits second on the list with 563 wickets has a better average than him (21.64).
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The leading wicket-taker for Australia in red-ball cricket is the legendary spinner Shane Warner with 708 wickets in his kitty.
Cummins finished with a 10-wicket match haul in Australia’s 79-run win while Starc returned with 4/55 and both pacers bowled a hostile spell of fast bowling to take the host to a second consecutive triumph.
With this victory, the hosts have now taken an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series.
Pakistan fought till the last but fell short as Australia completed a solid victory.
Starting the last session at 129/3, Pakistan were given some hope by Saud Shakeel and Babar Azam as both batters were decisive in their approach. In the 41st over of the game, Josh Hazlewood delivered an absolute stunner to remove well-set batter Babar for 41.
When Mohammad Rizwan and Agha Salman joined for an adventurous 57-run combination, the topsy-turvy battle seemed to be heading for a dramatic finale.
Pakistan were 219 for 5 and needed 98 runs for a series-levelling victory as the match seemed poised to be a cliffhanger.
However, Rizwan attempted to sway out of the path of Cummins’ short delivery and dropped his wrists as the ball sailed by. Rizwan looked disappointed that the DRS decision had been reversed as Cummins celebrated his 250th Test wicket. The pacer then had Aamer Jamal caught and bowled shortly after.
In the next 30 or minutes of the match, Cummins went on to dismiss Shaheen Shah Afridi for his tenth wicket. It rounded off another epic effort by Cummins, who had turned the match on its head late on day two with a splendid spell that included a gem of a ball to bowled Babar Azam. Starc claimed Salman and Mir Hamza in consecutive deliveries as Pakistan were bundled out for 237.
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Source: ANI
