Haris Sohail had laboured his way through on the first day, patiently blocking what he could and letting the others sail past.
He retained his composure on the second day, until Australia finally took the second new ball, which allowed him to start scoring more freely. Sohail scored 110, taking Pakistan up to 482 – a score he says his side is happy with.
For Sohail, it will be a day to remember because it was maiden Test ton in his sixth Test. Sohail scored at a slow rate in the early part of his innings, but there was logic behind it.
“There was a stage when the seam had practically worn off completely. They didn’t take the new ball, and it had become so soft that it was almost impossible to score runs. Even if you middled the ball, it didn’t go past the infield,” said Sohail.
Pakistan's lower order crumbles after Haris Sohail reaches his maiden Test hundred as Australia dismiss the hosts for 482, Siddle leading the bowling figures with 3/58.
Will Pakistan make any inroads with the ball before stumps?#PAKvAUS LIVE ➡️ https://t.co/sRNIJtvl02 pic.twitter.com/wDvGyNLxbI
— ICC (@ICC) October 8, 2018
“We were thinking that a session will have to come when they do take the new ball, and runs will come then. That’s what happened. When they took the new ball, we started scoring quicker (towards the end).”
The 29-year-old didn’t try to hide his delight over scoring his very first Test century: “It matters a lot because when you’re playing for your country and it’s your first Test century, it’s totally different; the first century is always significant.”
The Australians were made to toil for a total of 164.2 overs before the last Pakistan batsman was dismissed. Needless to say, captain Paine had to rotate his bowlers a fair bit. According to Labuschagne, his leg-spin gave the captain another dimension to work with to try and upset the ‘rhythm’ of the stubborn Pakistan batsmen.
“It was a change-up, a change in momentum, a change in the rhythm of the batsmen and just making them think a little bit differently about how they want to play shots and stuff like that,” he said. “That’s probably the key, trying to get them to think a little bit differently with someone who bowls a bit of leg-spin.”
