Pakistan batsman Imam-ul-Haq hit his second century of the match as the first Test against Australia at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium ended in a drab draw on Tuesday.
Pakistan were 252-0 in the second innings when the teams shook hands with openers Imam and Abdullah Shafique unbeaten on 111 and 136, respectively, as the hosts finished with a lead of 269 runs.
It was Shafique's maiden Test hundred as he hit 15 fours and a six in his 242-ball knock, while Imam was more watchful and faced 223 balls, hitting seven fours and two sixes.
Imam scored 157 in Pakistan's first-innings total of 476-4 declared in what was his first Test since November 2019, while Australia were all out for 459 in their opening knock, in which Usman Khawaja top-scored with 97.
“The most satisfying feeling to score a hundred in each innings and Australia have a good bowling attack,” said man-of-the-match Imam. “When you score against the top teams you go one step ahead in your career. I was trying to correct my basics and wait for the loose balls.”
Imam and Abdullah's stand surpassed Pakistan’s previous best against Australia in 1964 when Khalid Ibadulla and Abdul Kadir combined for 249 in Karachi.
Shafique and Imam also became the first Pakistan opening pair to share a century stand in each innings against Australia after combining for 105 runs in their opening total.
A total of 1,187 runs were scored over five days and only 14 wickets fell in what Australia's Steve Smith called a “pretty benign, dead wicket” which risks censure from the game's governing body.
With a draw looming as the only possible result, Australia captain Pat Cummins shielded his front-line quicks and used as many as nine bowlers in Pakistan's second innings.
It's been a great week in Rawalpindi. It's good to be back here after 24 years
Pat Cummins
On Tuesday, the pace trio of Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood bowled a combined 16 out of their 77 overs. Off-spinner Lyon alone sent down 26 overs, while part-timers Marnus Labuschagne, Travis Head, Smith and Usman Khawaja were also utilised.
“Just about everyone got into the series, especially the batters, and we had a good look at their line-up,” said Cummins. “Still feeling quite fresh. It's been a great week in Rawalpindi. It's good to be back here after 24 years.”
Earlier, after the tourists began the final day on 449-7, Pakistan took 11 deliveries to claim the last three Australian wickets.
Nauman Ali dismissed Cummins for eight, and both Starc and Lyon fell lbw as Australia finished 17 runs behind Pakistan's first-innings total.
Each of Australia's top four batsmen crossed the 50-mark but could not convert them into hundreds and the tourists lost their last six wickets for 52 runs.
Left-arm spinner Nauman claimed a career-best 6-107 on a flat track on which bowlers struggled for success.
The second Test begins in Karachi on Saturday, while Lahore stages the final match from March 21-25. The Test series will then be followed by three one-day internationals and a one-off Twenty20 in Rawalpindi.
Who has lived at The Bishops Avenue?
- George Sainsbury of the supermarket dynasty, sugar magnate William Park Lyle and actress Dame Gracie Fields were residents in the 1930s when the street was only known as ‘Millionaires’ Row’.
- Then came the international super rich, including the last king of Greece, Constantine II, the Sultan of Brunei and Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal who was at one point ranked the third richest person in the world.
- Turkish tycoon Halis Torprak sold his mansion for £50m in 2008 after spending just two days there. The House of Saud sold 10 properties on the road in 2013 for almost £80m.
- Other residents have included Iraqi businessman Nemir Kirdar, singer Ariana Grande, holiday camp impresario Sir Billy Butlin, businessman Asil Nadir, Paul McCartney’s former wife Heather Mills.
Hunting park to luxury living
- Land was originally the Bishop of London's hunting park, hence the name
- The road was laid out in the mid 19th Century, meandering through woodland and farmland
- Its earliest houses at the turn of the 20th Century were substantial detached properties with extensive grounds
The specs: Rolls-Royce Cullinan
Price, base: Dh1 million (estimate)
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbo V12
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 563hp @ 5,000rpm
Torque: 850Nm @ 1,600rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 15L / 100km
UAE%20SQUAD
%3Cp%3E%0DJemma%20Eley%2C%20Maria%20Michailidou%2C%20Molly%20Fuller%2C%20Chloe%20Andrews%20(of%20Dubai%20College)%2C%20Eliza%20Petricola%2C%20Holly%20Guerin%2C%20Yasmin%20Craig%2C%20Caitlin%20Gowdy%20(Dubai%20English%20Speaking%20College)%2C%20Claire%20Janssen%2C%20Cristiana%20Morall%20(Jumeirah%20English%20Speaking%20School)%2C%20Tessa%20Mies%20(Jebel%20Ali%20School)%2C%20Mila%20Morgan%20(Cranleigh%20Abu%20Dhabi).%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Strait of Hormuz
Fujairah is a crucial hub for fuel storage and is just outside the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping route linking Middle East oil producers to markets in Asia, Europe, North America and beyond.
The strait is 33 km wide at its narrowest point, but the shipping lane is just three km wide in either direction. Almost a fifth of oil consumed across the world passes through the strait.
Iran has repeatedly threatened to close the strait, a move that would risk inviting geopolitical and economic turmoil.
Last month, Iran issued a new warning that it would block the strait, if it was prevented from using the waterway following a US decision to end exemptions from sanctions for major Iranian oil importers.
RESULTS
Lightweight (female)
Sara El Bakkali bt Anisha Kadka
Bantamweight
Mohammed Adil Al Debi bt Moaz Abdelgawad
Welterweight
Amir Boureslan bt Mahmoud Zanouny
Featherweight
Mohammed Al Katheeri bt Abrorbek Madaminbekov
Super featherweight
Ibrahem Bilal bt Emad Arafa
Middleweight
Ahmed Abdolaziz bt Imad Essassi
Bantamweight (female)
Ilham Bourakkadi bt Milena Martinou
Welterweight
Mohamed Mardi bt Noureddine El Agouti
Middleweight
Nabil Ouach bt Ymad Atrous
Welterweight
Nouredine Samir bt Marlon Ribeiro
Super welterweight
Brad Stanton bt Mohamed El Boukhari
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Who was Alfred Nobel?
The Nobel Prize was created by wealthy Swedish chemist and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel.
- In his will he dictated that the bulk of his estate should be used to fund "prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind".
- Nobel is best known as the inventor of dynamite, but also wrote poetry and drama and could speak Russian, French, English and German by the age of 17. The five original prize categories reflect the interests closest to his heart.
- Nobel died in 1896 but it took until 1901, following a legal battle over his will, before the first prizes were awarded.
