In challenging conditions at the Optus Stadium, Pakistan showed resilience while chasing a daunting first innings total of 487 on Friday. With two half-century partnerships, they stood at 114/1 with half an hour of play left on Day 2. The latter partnership developed much faster than the opening one.
Skipper Shan Masood led the charge aggressively against the Australian attack, while Imam-ul-Haq continued cautiously, maintaining a strike rate well below 25. However, when Imam finally attempted to emulate his captain’s approach and accelerate the scoring, it led to unexpected trouble for his team.
Imam remained unbeaten on 27 off 110 balls when Nathan Lyon entered the attack for the 43rd over. After three consecutive dot balls, Lyon pitched a slightly fuller delivery. In an uncharacteristic move, Imam advanced down the track and hammered a lofted straight drive at over 120 kilometers per hour.
Unfortunately, Masood, positioned at the non-striker’s end and scoring at a rapid pace, didn’t anticipate Imam’s sudden change in approach. He could only witness in horror as the ball headed straight towards him.
Despite his attempts to shield himself by instinctively turning his back, the ball struck him squarely in the center of his back. Although Masood attempted to take a single, he immediately expressed considerable pain, signaling for the physios to attend to his injury.
— Travis Head (@TravisHead8441) December 15, 2023
Even after receiving some spray to alleviate the discomfort, Masood remained visibly in pain. The Twitterati swiftly turned the incident into amusing jokes, highlighting the peculiar and foreboding nature of the signaling behind this unexpected and slightly comical mishap.