Australia on 271-2 as rain limits Day 3 of Pakistan Test
Cricket
Australia on 271-2, trailing Pakistan by 205 runs with eight wickets remaining.
RAWALPINDI (AFP) - Australian opener Usman Khawaja said he was disappointed to have missed what would have been a "memorable hundred" in the country of his birth as his side made a strong response to Pakistan Sunday on the third day of the first Test in Rawalpindi.
Bad light stopped play and then rain poured down with Australia on 271-2, trailing Pakistan by 205 runs with eight wickets remaining after the home side declared Saturday at 476-4.
Marnus Labuschagne was on 69 and Steve Smith 24, but with rain forecast for the last two days a result is unlikely.
It could still have been a memorable day for Khawaja had he completed his 11th Test century in Pakistan, where he was born in 1986 before his parents emigrated to Australia.
"It was a bit disappointing," said Khawaja, who was caught on 97.
"You come to the change room and feel worse than getting a 20 in some respects."
The left hander was caught at forward short leg by Imam-ul-Haq as he gloved a reverse sweep off left-arm spinner Nauman Ali.
Umpire Aleem Dar ruled him not out, but Pakistan were given the wicket on review.
"My family would have been watching back home... my wife too, who is pregnant with our second child," said Khawaja.
"But if you put that in perspective, then I was not in the Australian team two months ago so I am very grateful and happy that I have contributed to the team s total in the end."
Khawaja s 219-minute knock included 15 boundaries, and he put on 156 for the opening wicket with David Warner, who made an attractive 68.
Warner fell in the eighth over after lunch when he missed a square drive and was bowled by off-spinner Sajid Khan.
The pair scored at more than four an over in the morning session, a contrast to the Pakistan first innings which lasted two days and 162 overs.
Pakistan s seam bowling duo and their three slow bowlers found the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium pitch as unresponsive as the tourists did on the first two days when only four wickets fell, with little spin and no reverse swing.
But Pakistan only had themselves to blame for not making a crucial breakthrough as Khawaja was dropped twice in a clumsy fielding display by the hosts.
Sajid said Warner s wicket was a big one.
"He always bats well against Pakistan so I set him up and got him," he said.
"We weren t bothered when they batted so fast, and stuck to our plans."
Still, Labuschagne -- the current number-one batter in Test rankings -- continued where Khawaja and Warner had left off, stroking nine exquisite boundaries.
He and Smith have added 68 for third wicket.
Australia are on their first tour to Pakistan since 1998, having previously refused to tour the country over security fears.
The second Test in in Karachi from March 12-16, and the third in Lahore from March 21-25
