Abid Ali and Sami Aslam shine on day 1 of tour match

On what seemed like a typical UAE wicket, Pakistan A resisted well against the Australians on Day 1 of the tour match. They ended 247-6, with Abid Ali unbeaten on 83 and wicket keeper Mohammad Rizwan on 13. Lyon picked with 5 top order wickets, which would please the Australian team management.

Earlier in the day, Pakistan started well with opener Sami Aslam alongside initially Shan Masood and Abid Ali providing solid foundations. Much like the collective Nice, Garry day in the Boxing Day Test match, Lyon had Sami Aslam. Captain Asad Shafiq, Usman Salauddin and Iftikhar Ahmed all fell cheaply. While, Saad Ali consolidated with a 36 along with Abid Ali.

On the bowling front Australia will be really pleased with the over bowled by Mitchell Starc. However, the brunt of the work was done by Lyon and his spin compatriot Jon Holland, who got Asad Shafiq. Tomorrow Abid Ali would want to push on towards a 100 and Australians would like to wrap things up quickly so they can get some batting practice.

Pakistan A however had other plans. They didn’t pick any spinner in the squad, and went into the game with three frontline pacers. Wahab Riaz, Rahat Ali and Waqas Maqsood. Perhaps, they will rely on Asad Shafiq and Ifikhar Ahmed to roll their arms over with off spin.