Yet another sensational burst of bowling from Mohammad Abbas saw to it that there would be no escape for Australia in Abu Dhabi, with Pakistan wrapping up a 373-run win on the fourth afternoon.
The in-form seamer took 10/95 in the match to help his side – who had set Australia a mammoth 538-run target – to a 1-0 series victory.
Resuming for an extended morning session on 47/1, Australia’s middle order crumbled, with Abbas looking close to unplayable.
With Usman Khawaja still unable to bat, Mitchell Starc entered at number seven and provided some resistance alongside Marnus Labuschagne. But Yasir Shah got in on the act to break that partnership, getting Starc lbw for 28 and from there the rest followed swiftly either side of lunch. Yasir cleaned up the tail, picking up Peter Siddle and Jon Holland cheaply to end with 3/45. Abbas picked up his 10-for with the wicket of the impressive Labuschagne for 43 just after lunch, with a bouncer feathered to the keeper.
Khawaja, diagnosed with a meniscal tear in his knee, did not bat.
Earlier, Abbas had built pressure to wear the Australians down, with stand-in captain Asad Shafiq (Sarfraz Ahmed had been taken to hospital for checks following the blow to his head from Siddle yesterday) giving him an extended spell.
Head nicked through Mohammad Rizwan, deputising for Sarfraz behind the stumps, for a hard-fought 36 before a succession of nightmarish nip-backers saw three more wickets in the next two Abbas overs. Mitchell Marsh and Aaron Finch went lbw, with Tim Paine cleaned bowled whilst shouldering arms just four balls after Finch.
Yasir’s final dismissal of Holland wrapped up a heartening all-round display for Pakistan. There were a few questions marks over the potency of their attack after that first-Test draw. Having perhaps been underused on that day, Abbas showed in this Test why he can be Pakistan’s attack leader in all conditions. His were Pakistan’s best ever figures in the UAE, the performance confirmation that he belongs among the world’s elite pace bowlers.
With the bat, they did what needed to be done. Fakhar Zaman, who became the first Pakistani to score two half-centuries on Test debut, showed he could be a quality Test player, Sarfraz Ahmed came back into form, and Babar Azam just missed out on a maiden Test century.
Australia meanwhile, slipped down to fifth in the MRF Tyres ICC Test Rankings as a result of the defeat.
