Pakistan took the key wickets of Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne just before lunch Friday to have Australia trailing by 114 first-innings runs on Day 3 of the third cricket test.
Australia went to lunch at 199-4 in reply to Pakistan’s 313. Smith and Labuschagne shared a 79-run partnership and were threatening to guide Australia into a lead but Pakistan dismissed them both within six deliveries.
Smith was the first to go for 38. He walked down the wicket to fast bowler Mir Hamza, but the ball took a puff of dust on the way through, slowing up off the surface and Smith drove it straight to Babar Azam.
Labuschagne followed in the next over, bowled between bat and pad by a ball that spun back out of the footmarks from Salman Agha.
Travis Head and Mitch Marsh were both unbeaten on six at the interval.
Australia won the first two tests in Perth and Melbourne and is chasing a sweep of the three-test series.
Meanwhile, Australia opener David Warner, who was dismissed for 34 in the first innings in his final test, revealed that his lost “baggy green” test caps have been recovered.