'From Genius to Wheels Off in 10 mins': Michael Vaughan Brutally Trolls Pakistan for Sloppy Fielding

Former England captain Michael Vaughan took a sly dig at Pakistan’s sloppy fielding on the third day of the Boxing Day Test which allowed Australia to march along in the second innings. After conceding a 54-run lead, Pakistan bounced fiercely with two quick wickets on Thursday morning. Shaheen Shah Afridi got Usman Khawaja and Marnus Labuschagne in quick successions to reduce the hosts to a 6/2 at the stroke of lunch. Mir Hamza further dented Australia’s confidence with back-to-back wickets of David Warner and Travis Head in the second session.

Pakistan were right on the top of their game until Abdullah Shafique dropped Mitchell Marsh for 20.

The missed opportunity and a sluggish effort on the field led to the visitors’ downfall. Marsh and Smith joined forces to stitch a match-saving partnership of 153 runs for the 5^th wicket, simultaneously extending the second-innings.

Vaughan, who is currently one of the commentators for Fox Cricket, took to the microblogging site X to express his views on Pakistan’s fielding.

“The reason I love watching Pakistan is days like this … they go from Genius to wheels off within in 10 mins .. #AUSvPAK,” Vaughan wrote.

Though Hamaza returned in the final session to deny Marsh a well-fought century, it was too late by then for Shan Masood & Co. Australia posted Australia 187-6 at stumps on Thursday with a 241-run lead going into the fourth day.

Marsh fell just short of his fourth test century after Salman Ali Agha hung onto a spectacular diving catch in the slips. Smith battled his way to his first test 50 since the Ashes from 176 balls, the second-slowest half-century of his career.

“It’s obviously disappointing. I thought we navigated our way out of a tricky situation in that partnership with (Smith),” Marsh said.

“I guess there’s a lot of history at this ground, the Boxing Day test, and a bloody big honours board that I was close to getting on, but it wasn’t meant to be. Hopefully, I get one more crack at it,” he added.

Earlier, captain Pat Cummins took his 10th five-wicket total in test matches to help Australia earn a 54-run first-innings lead.