Pakistan put Australia through 162 overs of torture but saw its late day two declaration in the first Test spoiled by bad light amid comical scenes.
The hosts posted 4-476 in Rawalpindi and declared late on Saturday, hoping to give at least 10 overs to young speedsters Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah to make inroads into the Australian order.
In the end, the bowling was opened by spinner Sajid Khan due to bad light.
And then play was abandoned before the following over could start as the skies became even darker.
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Australia’s openers Usman Khawaja and David Warner had waited in the middle for almost 10 minutes while the umpires consulted Pakistan captain Babar Azam and eventually came to a decision.
The ruling was that only spin could be bowled, thus effectively defeating the purpose of Babar’s declaration in the first place.
The only positive for Pakistan is that the ball remains almost brand new for the start of day three with only one over bowled.
But Australia was the big winner out of the strange end to the day with Usman Khawaja making five runs from four balls, and David Warner blocking out the final two balls of the day to reach stumps without loss.
Australia will resume batting at 0-5 on Sunday — 471 runs behind, looking to bat long in the hope of salvaging a draw.
On a day of darkness for world cricket following the tragic passing of Shane Warne, Australia wore black armbands, while there was a moment of silence before play.
The tourists could only take three wickets for the day as Pakistan piled on the pain in batter-friendly conditions, with Azhar Ali making 185 from 361 balls and Imam-ul-Haq 157 from 358.
The highlight of the day for Australia was when Babar Azam (36) was run-out with a stunning piece of fielding by Marnus Labuschagne. Labuschagne collected the ball with one hand and with little more than one stump to aim at, threw down the stumps at the nonstriker’s end with Babar just short of his crease.
Labuschagne celebrated the wicket wildly, trying his best to inject some energy into the Aussies who had toiled away in the field.
Earlier, Pat Cummins was the man to finally break a 208-run stand between Imam and Ali in the second session of day two, trapping the former in front with a hint of reverse swing.
In a brutal, wicketless first session for Australia, a massive opportunity went begging with the tourists failing to review a decision for caught behind on Imam.
Despite an unenthusiastic appeal, UltraEdge showed a small spike as the ball went past the toe of the bat.
Cummins saw the replay at the ground and winced in anguish having decided not to take the review, despite having two available.
“It’s like when you’re fielding in the slips and nothing is coming for ages, you start switching off a little bit then something happens, and you’re like, ‘what?’ Rob Key said in commentary. “Then you’ve missed your opportunity.
“Cummins was unmoved. No one had that much interest.”
It would have been Australia’s first wicket in nearly 80 overs of cricket, and Nathan Lyon’s second of the match.
Former Pakistan captain Waqar Younis noted that Steve Smith appeared eager to review but was denied.
“Smith was stunned. It was Carey who was not convinced, and he just went straight to the bowler and he said, ‘nah I don’t think he hit it’,” he said.
“But Smith was just surprised that they didn’t take the review.”
In the second session, Australia did the opposite, taking a review for caught behind despite no interest from Carey or Cummins, who bowled the delivery. In the end, Cummins consulted Smith at square leg who shrugged his shoulders before the captain called for the review.
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The action, however, was undoubtedly overshadowed by the sudden passing of cricket legend Warne, who died aged 52.
Warne was holidaying in Thailand when his friends found him unresponsive in his villa on Koh Samui, and was pronounced dead at the Thai International Hospital.
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