Matthew Wade almost loses his head. While Sami Aslam might not have had a problem with Mitchell Starc's fourth ball of the innings, as it is full and wide down the leg side, when it goes past the batsman it flies up at Wade's head, swinging back at him. There is no actual danger to Aslam, but it is inferred, and this was not going to be like facing the Pakistan attack. Starc showed more menace in a rubbish ball than Pakistan had mustered for most of their first day. The Pakistan bowlers bowled well on day two but compared to them, Starc looks like a sexual tyrannosaurus - a furious beast.
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Josh Hazlewood gets straight and short, Aslam turns his head and lets it hit him in the helmet. Hazlewood asks if he is ok, Aslam waves him away. Aslam does not take the helmet off, or even seem overly worried by the substantial hit; it's either manly stupidity or he's in a bit of shock. His face, that solid chunk of granite that rarely changes and makes him look a decade older, seems to say, "I ain't got time to bleed".It is the umpires who come in to check on him, make him check his helmet, but still, he bats on. A few overs later he sweeps one into his helmet off Nathan Lyon. Much like Pakistan, he is under attack from outside and within.
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Somehow, in the minute it takes Younis Khan to make it out to the middle, it suddenly feels much, much darker. The man who was born before day-night internationals started, who is walking out confidently for his 202nd Test innings, is now coming out to face under lights, against a pink ball, just as the Australian bowlers smell blood. For a man who has seen everything in a 16-year career, this is different, this is dangerous, this is brief.
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Misbah-ul-Haq tries a forward defence, a shot he was playing long before Hazlewood was born, and this time it hits his pad before he is even ready to play the shot. He laughs, not because he is happy, but at the sheer ridiculousness of the situation. Misbah is more pragmatist than others, and when life is like this, others might get concerned, but he laughs. The next over he is hit on the gloves by Bird by a ball that he cannot get away from. Soon after he will be prodding at a ball outside off stump that he would have been just as close to if they turned the lights off. Aslam gets hit in the head again, and again he shrugs it off in just as silly a way as he keeps playing the short ball. Like he is telling Australia to keep coming at him, old painless is waiting.
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The team 50 is brought up by Asad Shafiq off his first ball, on the last ball of the 27th over. It is not a landmark you usually notice, the first 50 runs, but this one seems like the only one Pakistan will see today, this innings, and if you are a true pessimist (read Pakistan fan) this game. Starc looked dangerous in the nice light, bowling friendly balls down leg, now Pakistan seemed to be hoping he missed them and their edges. But Aslam keeps plugging on. He has faced 89 of the 162 deliveries; he has 12 runs, three hits to the head, and he has dug in deeper than an Alabama tick.
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Aslam greets Sarfraz Ahmed to Pakistan's world of hurt; Sarfraz is too busy to notice. Straight away he is not edging to slip, but getting an eager leading edge off through the covers, and scampering through. Aslam is not one who scampers, he is like a small tense ball of muscle that has out-batted his entire top order, and is more interested in surviving than runs. He shuffles across the line of his stumps to protect his wicket so much he has not seen how far he has gone, and instead of protecting his wicket, he accidentally gives it away. After all the pain, the fight, the trouble, he loses his wicket to a leg-side strangle.
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Bird bowls a bouncer to Wahab Riaz; it is outside off and safe, but Wahab can't see that as he closes his eyes, ducks his head and backs off for square leg. By the time he stops moving backwards, it takes him six steps to get back to the crease.
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The scoreboard, so surprised at the quick nature of the wickets, still has Pakistan at six wickets down. It is the only respite Pakistan get. Even Lyon coming on to bowl feels intense, as the crowd cheers each ball like it's a hat-trick ball.
Pakistan make it to the end of the day only eight wickets down. Only. Sarfraz plays his typical innings, of complete and utter disregard for the conditions, the situation and life in general, Mohammad Amir stays with him.
The rest of the Pakistan batsmen sit around and think of how they just got completely smashed by Australia. And how, that despite the hits on the head, the balls flying through, and the darkness, they lost their wickets mostly through a series of limp pushes at length balls. It was tough out there, but Pakistan were not. They didn't lose their heads, they gave them away.