On this day – Australia complete an unbelievable comeback win against Pakistan
It is always fascinating to witness the teams emerging from the brink of defeat to win an improbable victory especially in the purest format of the game. On this day, eleven years back, the Australian cricket team scripted a stunning victory to emerge out of nowhere and clinch the second game of the three-match Test series against Pakistan at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
The toss went in the favour of the Australian captain Ricky Ponting and he opted to bat on a green-top at the SCG. In the first innings, the hosts were bundled out for a paltry total of 127 runs within 44.2 overs. In reply, Pakistan posted a massive total of 333. Opening batsman Salman Butt played a remarkable knock of 71 runs while Imran Farhat, Umar Akmal and Mohammad Yusuf added 53, 49 and 46 runs to the scorecard.
Remarkable comeback
Batting in the second innings, Australia showed class and determination as they had a stunning start with Shane Watson scoring a scintillating 97 runs. However, what followed after that was a horrific collapse of the batting order as the batsmen failed to answer the questions posed by the Pakistan bowlers.
In this tough scenario, Michael Hussey held the fort and didn’t let the opposition get the better of him. However, no other batsman took the responsibility and Australia soon found themselves reeling at a total of 257/8. They just had a lead of 51 runs and the winning momentum had completely shifted towards the visiting nation.
But the match took a complete turn as at Number 10 walked in right-arm fast-medium bowler Peter Siddle and played probably one of the best and memorable innings of his entire cricket career. Siddle did something unexpected as he stitched a crucial 123-run partnership with Michael Hussey and the two together took their team towards a respectable total of 381 runs. This resulted in Australia setting a challenging target of 176 runs for Pakistan.
Michael Hussey played a match-defining innings of 134 runs off 284 deliveries while Siddle made a contribution of a crucial 38 runs. Luck also favoured these two batsmen that day as wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal dropped three catches of Hussey and one of Siddle. For Pakistan, the spinner Danish Kaneria took a five-wicket haul while Umar Gul ended up with three strikes.
Chasing 176, Pakistan was all out for 139 runs as Nathan Hauritz ran through the Pakistan batting, taking five scalps. As a result, Australia won the game by 36 runs and it is deemed as one of the greatest comebacks in the history of Test cricket.
