Pakistan pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi has already made a name for himself in world cricket and his talent with the new ball was once again on display on Day 1 of the ongoing third Test against Australia in Lahore. Very few batters can breathe easy when Shaheen has the ball in his hand as the left-arm pacer has a knack of producing the goods even when the conditions are not favouring the bowlers.
This was the case on Day 1 of the third Test at the Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore as he made the ball talk to get the better of opening batter David Warner. In the third over of the Test, Shaheen bowled a perfect nip-backer to surprise Warner who was camped on the back-foot. The batter was beaten for pace and the ball caught him right plumb in front of the wicket. Warner was adjudged leg-before wicket and the replays showed that the ball was crashing onto the leg stump.
Warner managed to score just seven runs. In the same over, Shaheen bowled an outswinger to find the outside edge of Marnus Labuschagne's bat and send him back for a duck. However, Australia managed to pull things back after Steve Smith and Usman Khawaja grinded it out in the middle.
Smith and Khawaja formed a 138-run stand for the third wicket and this partnership was finally broken by Naseem Shah as he got the better of Smith, but it was not before the right-hander played a knock of 59.
Earlier, Australia had won the toss and Pat Cummins-led side opted to bat first.