Aussie pace duo set sights on Azhar’s wicket

DUBAI: Australian pacers Mitchell Starc and Peter Siddle have singled out Pakistan’s Azhar Ali as the key wicket for the tourists in this month’s two-Test series in the UAE.

In seven Tests against Australia, Azhar averages 69.75, having made three hundreds and four fifties.Azhar debuted in the same Test as Steve Smith and current Australia captain Tim Paine at Lord’s in 2010, and has forged a reputation as a dependable opening batsman across 65 Tests, averaging 44.84.

The last time the two sides met, in Australia in the 2016-17 summer, the 33-year-old was Pakistan’s leading run-scorer. “They’ve got a quality batting line-up, and on some really flat wickets their whole middle order’s going to be a really good battle,” Starc told Cricket Australia’s (CA) website on Tuesday.

“I think someone like Azhar Ali, who scored a fair few runs against us in Australia last time they were here, he’d be a big one at the top of the order for them,” he said.

“He can bat long periods of time, he’s not too fazed about being tied down. So I think if we can get him early and get their middle order in against a newer, harder ball, then that’s a good starting point.”

Starc and Siddle were both on the receiving end of the best of Azhar in Abu Dhabi four years ago, when he became just the eighth Pakistani to score hundreds in each innings of a Test as the Aussies were thumped by 356 runs to round out a 0-2 series defeat.

“The key wicket for Pakistan is always going to be Azhar,” Siddle said. “He’s one of the leaders in that side now,”“From the last tour when we went over there, they had the stars and the old heads of Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq to lead them, they’re probably a little bit less experienced now, which is good news for us, but they’ve still got a lot of class players,” he added.