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Cricket

'Learning from their neighbours' - Fans react as Pakistan suffer batting collapse after Josh Hazlewood special in second innings of Sydney Test

With a triple wicket maiden, right-arm pacer Hazlewood opened the door for Australia to claim a 3-0 series whitewash.

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Mathew K
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Josh Hazlewood & Babar Azam (Source: Twitter)

Josh Hazlewood & Babar Azam (Source: Twitter)

We witnessed a replica of the Cape Town Test in the final session of Day 3 in Sydney. A couple of days ago, India fell like a pack of cards, losing six wickets in the second innings against South Africa while taking 0 runs off 11 balls. The scoreboard went from 153-3 to 153-10. In a similar incident, a Josh Hazlewood special at the SCG led to Pakistan's batting collapse, resulting in the scoreboard reading W 0 W 0 W 0!

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With a triple wicket maiden, right-arm pacer Hazlewood opened the door for Australia to claim a 3-0 series whitewash. Pakistan managed to take a first-innings lead of 14 runs, but they crumbled against the Australian pace attack in the second innings. Mitchell Starc drew first blood by dismissing opener Abdullah Shafique for a duck in the first over.

In the very next over, Hazlewood dispatched the rival skipper for a golden duck and went on to single-handedly dismantle Pakistan's batting unit. Shan Masood and Babar Azam tried to rescue the visitors with a 50+ partnership for the third wicket. However, the two Aussie spinners Nathan Lyon and Travis Head got rid of the duo in quick succession.

Hazlewood set the tone for Australia's comeback 

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Returning to the attack, speedster Hazlewood took three wickets in the 25th over - Saud Shakeel, Sajid Khan and Agha Salman. Pakistan narrowed from 67/4 to 68/7 and closed Day 3 with a lead of 82 runs. He finished with figures of 5-2-9-4, essentially setting the tone for Australia's comeback. With Pakistan's most reliable batter Mohammad Rizwan and first-innings half-century hitter Aamer Jamal at the crease, the visitors will be hoping for a lead somewhere around 140.

Speaking after stumps on Day 3, Hazlewood said: "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. 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."

Here's how fans reacted to Pakistan's massive batting collapse in the second innings of the Sydney Test:

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