Asif, Sami rip through Australia in Sydney Test - India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

Pakistan fast bowlers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Sami exploited the seaming conditions of the SCG to rip through the Australian batting line up and bundled them out for 127 runs on the first day of the Sydney Test. Australian skipper Ricky Ponting's decision to bat first on a hard, well-grassed pitch and overcast conditions did not help them as Asif (6-41) and Sami (3-27) made the most of the rain-affected opening day. Sami, playing his first Test in more than two years, accounted for the first three wickets of the day with seven overs of express pace. Opener Phillip Hughes, on his recall at the expense of injured Simon Katich, was the first to be dismissed when he was caught in the slips in Sami's second over for a duck. He then removed Ponting with his very next ball and soon had Shane Watson edging a delivery that seamed away from him to reduce the home side to 10-3, The Sydney Morning Herald reports. With the top-order knocked off, Asif stepped up as he accounted for the next six wickets in the innings to finish with career-best Test figures of 6 for 41 from 20 overs. Only a 44-run eighth-wicket stand between Mitchell Johnson (38) and Nathan Hauritz (21) offered some resistance as a shell-shocked home crowd saw their team hit the rocks at 62-7. Umar Gul completed the rout with the final wicket of Doug Bollinger, leaving Pakistan with 14 overs to survive until stumps. In reply, the tourists were 14 runs for no loss at stumps before bad light ended play early.