Watch: David Warner was given an early life in the Boxing Day Test at MCG when Abdullah Shafique dropped him at first slip in the third over of the match off the bowling of Shaheen Afridi today (December 26).
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With overcast conditions and rain around, Pakistan won the toss and chose to field in the second Test of the series in Melbourne. Mir Hamza and Hasan Ali replaced Khurram Shahzad and Faheem Ashraf, while wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan replaced Sarfaraz Ahmed. Australia went in with the same XI as the Perth Test.
Having scored a big hundred on the first day of the first Test in Perth, Warner could have been dismissed cheaply on the first day of the second Test when Afridi got him to edge one behind on the last ball of the third over of the day.
Pitching on off stump at a back of length, the ball straightened to catch the outside edge of Warner’s bat and flew at a comfortable height to Abdullah Shafique at first slip, who ended up making a mess of it, dropping a sitter.
David Warner's last 5 centuries against Pakistan: 164 in Perth (a missed catch and stumping), 163 in Bengaluru (a dropped catch), 335* in Adelaide (out off a no-ball), 154 in Brisbane (out off a no-ball), 107 in Taunton (a dropped catch that resulted in a famous meme).
— Mazher Arshad (@MazherArshad) December 26, 2023
Warner was batting on two at that point and ended up making 38 before being dismissed by Salman Ali Agha at the stroke of Lunch. With rain spoiling a significant portion of the afternoon’s play, only 69 overs are scheduled to be bowled on day one, which looks unlikely at the time of writing with Australia’s score reading 118-2 off 46 overs.
Usman Khawaja is the other batter to be dismissed after scoring 42 off the bowling of Hasan Ali.
Watch Abdullah Shafique drop David Warner at first slip off Shaheen Afridi:
David Warner gets a life on two! Shaheen Afridi gets the ball swinging and Abdullah Shafique puts it down at first slip #AUSvPAK pic.twitter.com/EJc4AptxJk
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 25, 2023
