Australia vs Pakan: Hasan Ali does a Merv Hughes, makes MCG crowd dance with his moves | Cricket News
Pakan pacer Hasan Ali delighted the Melbourne Cricket Ground crowd during the 3rd day of the 2nd Test between Australia and Pakan when he led the crowd into a little synchronized dancing routine.
Ali was fielding near the boundary ropes and had the crowd copy his moves, after which both player and crowd burst into applause.
The incident harkened back to Australia’s Merv Hughes’s crowd antics from decades ago, during the first final of the Benson & Hedges World Series between Australia and West Indies. Hughes’s stretches at the boundary ropes made the crowd follow along resulting in one of the greatest images in cricket hory.
Get your body moving with Hasan Ali! #AUSvPAK pic.twitter.com/8Y0ltpInXx
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 28, 2023
The 27-year-old took eight wickets in Brisbane, including four in a memorable burst to rattle Australia during its second innings. But Rabada was the most expensive of the South African seamers on the Gabba green top.
A couple of years ago, South African player Kagiso Rabada also orchestrated the crowd with his moves in a Test between Australia and South Africa also held in the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
On Thursday’s match, Australia lost its first four wickets for just 16 runs in its second innings but a 153-run stand between Steve Smith and Mitchell Marsh had the hosts in a good position with two days to play in the second cricket test against Pakan.
Marsh was out for 96 and Smith for 50 to leave Australia at 187-6 at stumps Thursday and with a 241-run lead going into the fourth day at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Captain Pat Cummins took his 10th five-wicket total in test matches earlier to help Australia earn a 54-run first-innings lead. But Pakan came back from the innings break to take the wickets of Usman Khawaja for a duck and Marnus Labuschagne for five, leaving Australia two wickets down for only six runs and an overall lead of 60 at lunch.