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Unstoppable Abbas

ABU DHABI:Seamer Mohammad Abbas tore through the Australian batting order, claiming his second five-wicket haul of the match as Pakistan sealed a 373-run victory in the second and final Test here today.

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Abu Dhabi, October 19 

Seamer Mohammad Abbas tore through the Australian batting order, claiming his second five-wicket haul of the match as Pakistan sealed a 373-run victory in the second and final Test here today. Chasing a mammoth target of 538, Australia had to give up the fight when they were reduced to 164/9 as Usman Khawaja could not bat due to a knee injury. The win also handed Pakistan the two-match series 1-0, with Australia snatching a thrilling draw from the jaws of defeat in the first Test at Dubai.

Australia had added 24 runs to their overnight score of 47/1 when Abbas, adjudged Man of the Match and Man of the Series, dismissed Travis Head (36) caught behind. The 28-year-old struck again in his next over, trapping Mitchell Marsh lbw for five. A darting Abbas inswinger trapped opener Aaron Finch (31) plumb in front of the stumps before captain Tim Paine’s off-stump was knocked back for a duck in the same over. 

Leg-spinner Yasir Shah picked two wickets in two overs, sending Mitchell Starc (28) and Peter Siddle (3) back. Marnus Labuschagne, playing his second Test, grafted his way to 43 but was dismissed after lunch as he top-edged a short ball from Abbas to substitute wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan.

Abbas’s first 10-wicket haul in Tests made him the first pace bowler to claim 15 or more dismissals in a Test series in the United Arab Emirates. “The way Abbas has bowled in the series is one of the biggest positives for us,” Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed said. 

The series defeat means Australia dropped from third to fifth in the International Cricket Council rankings. Paine said Australia were disappointed to have let Pakistan take control after reducing them to 57/5 in the first innings. “We let that opportunity slip. When you do that against good teams in Test cricket, you pay the price and they batted really well after that, put us under pressure and we weren’t up to the challenge with the bat,” Paine added.

We came up short: Paine 

“Abbas challenged our defence time and time again and as we’ve seen a number of times over the last couple of years we’ve come up short. There’s no sugar coating that we’ve got real issues with our batting and we need to address it quickly.” 

The morning session started on a sour note for both teams, with Pakistan skipper taken to hospital after being struck on the helmet while batting and Khawaja ruled out with a knee injury that is likely to require surgery. — Reuters

Brief scores: Pakistan 282; 400/9 dec (Babar 99, Sarfraz 81, Fakhar 66, Azhar 64); Australia 145; 164 (Labuschagne 43; Abbas 5/62) 

Abbas: Amazing 10

60 pacers have bowled in 32 Tests in UAE since 2002. Only one of them has taken a 10-wicket match haul there — Mohammad Abbas: 

10/95 Abbas’s match figures, the first 10-wicket Test haul by a pacer in UAE. The previous best by a pacer in UAE was Junaid Khan’s 8/151 vs Sri Lanka in 2013. Spinners have done it five times

17 Wickets by Abbas in 2 Tests vs Australia, the best series total for a pace bowler in UAE. UAE’s wickets favour spinners — 5 spinners have taken more wickets in a series than Abbas’s 17

2 Five-wickets hauls in an innings in UAE by Abbas. The only other pacer with two 5-wicket hauls in UAE is Junaid Khan. Spinners have recorded 24 5-wicket hauls in UAE

6/120 By Tanvir Ahmed, best innings figures by a pacer in UAE, vs SA in 2010. The best for a spinner in UAE is 8/49 by Devendra Bishoo of WI in 2016

Above average

15.64 Is the career average of Abbas after his first 10  Tests. It’s the best average for a bowler with 50-plus wickets in the last 100 years 

10.58 Is his average in this series for 17 wickets — the best for a Pak bowler in a series with 15-plus wickets 

2006 Last time a Pak pacer took a 10-wkt haul — Mohammad Asif against Sri Lanka in Kandy

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