On the morning of Day 3 in the Australia vs Pakistan Perth Test, Mitchell Starc bowled a jaffa of a delivery to uproot Sarfaraz Ahmed’s off-stump. You know it’s a special ball when commentator Wasim Akram calls the pacer “one of the best in the world”.
With Pakistan lagging well behind in the first innings in Perth, the visitors needed their former captain and senior player Sarfaraz Ahmed to bail them out of trouble and vindicate his selection over Mohammad Rizwan.
However, Sarfaraz was left stunned by a beauty from Mitchell Starc, and Wasim Akram impressed
It takes elite skills for a left-arm fast bowler to clean bowl a right-handed batsman, pitch the ball on the off-stump, invite a drive from the batter, go through his bat with the in-shape on the ball, and uproot the off-stump.
Mitchell Starc, who has done this on numerous occasions in his career, has the skillset and experience, and the intimidating factor to execute such dismissals. And he did exactly that on Saturday morning in Perth, leaving Sarfaraz Ahmed with no answers whatsoever, and the Pakistani fans questioning Sarfaraz’s place in the side over Rizwan once again.
It was a full delivery pitching on the off-stump from Mitchell Starc, a veteran of 83 Test matches now. Sarfaraz, who had faced just 5 balls in his innings till then, looked for a straight drive boundary, but played down the wrong line, thinking the ball would go along with the ball. Instead, as the ball straightened after pitching, it sneaked into the big pad-bat gap of the batsman and thudded into the off-stump, knocking it out of the ground.
Commentator Wasim Akram said, “That’s why he’s one of the best in the world, Mitchell Starc”
Check it out here:
SEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED!
A thing of beauty from Mitchell Starc! #PlayOfTheDay | @nrmainsurance | #AUSvPAK pic.twitter.com/tc7VJf2zQP
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 16, 2023
Meanwhile, Pakistan lost four wickets in the first session on Day 3, including Babar Azam for 21 and Imam-ul-Haq for 62 runs. At the time of writing, they are trailing by over 250 runs. Their first target here is to avoid the follow-on.
