Usman Khawaja

Debutant's brutal baptism; Khawaja's freak feat as Cummins stars: Aussie series ratings.

And it was the most gruelling of the lot for the fast bowlers who had to toil away on a Rawalpindi road, where Pakistan lost just four wickets across 239 overs. A tough debut series for the leggie, but he’ll be better for the experience. It was a slow burn for Starc who went wicketless in Rawalpindi but found some form in the final two Tests. The ball started reverse swinging in Pakistan’s first innings in Karachi and Starc swooped, exploiting it brilliantly to take 3-29 as Babar’s side was rolled for 148. After a tortured two-and-a-half years of trying to bowl out sides in the fourth innings, Lyon defeated the curse in style with three massive top-order wickets, and five in the fourth innings in Lahore overall. You simply wouldn’t know how gruelling it was from his figures, but two sizzling spells in Lahore saw Cummins blow this series wide open at the death. That couldn’t be reproduced in the second innings but in Lahore, it was Starc who blew away Fawad Alam and Mohammad Rizwan in quick succession to set up another spectacular collapse. His big chance was in the first innings in Lahore when plenty of runs were on offer if he could just get set. Only he could stop himself from reaching a century and he went on to admit that thoughts of reaching three figures clouded his mind when he was bowled by Naseem Shah. His first was a 93 in Karachi where his century dream was crushed by Babar Azam of all people. Alex Carey entered the series under some pressure, but he stepped up when it mattered to lock down his spot long-term. Many of his chances were difficult, but there were so many drops and missed opportunities that it became hard to keep count. Afridi often challenged the outside edge of Warner who looked a little shaky at times, particularly in the channel just outside off-stump.