Austalia vs Pakistan: 1st Test, Day 2 - 5 talking points

A devastating debacle saw Pakistan crumble from 42/2 to 67/8 on Day 2 of the first Test at the Gabba. The pink ball swung around extravagantly and the Pakistani batsmen, who had looked clueless to second string seamers in the warm-up game, had no idea on how to tackle Australian bowlers Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc.

Earlier in the day, Wahab Riaz and Mohammad Amir had helped Pakistan make early inroads as they removed Smith early and followed it up by cleaning up the lower middle order. But a maiden hundred from Peter Handscomb, and hefty blows in the 10th wicket stand between Lyon and Bird helped Australia to 429.

Sami Aslam was the only Pakistan batsman to get a hang of batting against the pink ball but even he could not convert it into enough runs to save Pakistan. He hung around for 100 balls making 22 before edging down the leg side. Sarfraz Ahmed's aggressive 31 helped Pakistan to 97/8 at stumps, although they are 133 runs away from avoiding a follow-on.

Here are the talking points from Day 2 at the Gabba:

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#5 Riaz and Amir fire in tandem

Pakistan came out positively on Day 2 after being made to chase leather the previous day by Smith and Handscomb. Amir settled into a nice rhythm and Riaz had his tails up right from the start.

The pressure created by Amir helped Riaz as he broke the 172-run stand, the highest in day-night Tests for Australia, by dismissing the centurion, Steven Smith. He followed that up with a peach to get rid of Maddinson for 1 and Amir removed Wade and Starc in quick time to reduce Australia to 354/7.

Amir came back to dismiss Hazlewood as he and Riaz shared four wickets apiece to help Pakistan climb back into the game ever so slightly.

#4 Handscomb impresses yet again

Handscomb scored a superb century

Peter Handscomb had looked an extremely good batsman on his debut against the Proteas and handled the pace of Wahab Riaz and turn of Yasir Shah with equal ease to help himself to a half-century.

On Day 2, after witnessing wickets falling like nine pins at the other end, Handscomb was unperturbed and continued scoring all around the wicket with ease. He soon reached his maiden Test hundred in just his second Test match and seems to have nailed down his spot in the squad.

That said, there is already a worrying trend to his dismissals as he tends to sit on the back foot even to fuller balls. Kyle Abbott exploited the weakness in Adelaide and he inside edged onto his stumps off Riaz to another fuller ball while stuck on his back foot. Handscomb would do well to correct his failings pretty early in his career.

#3 Starc and Hazlewood blow Pakistan away

Hazlewood picked up 3 wickets on Day 2

With a gigantic score in front of them, Pakistan started their innings tentatively against Starc and Hazlewood. While Starc was accurate and pacy, bouncing the batsmen occasionally and mouthing them frequently, Hazlewood was his usual McGrath-esque self.

Starc had Azhar Ali edging behind the stumps while Hazlewood broke Pakistan's back by dismissing Babar Azam and Younis Khan off consecutive balls. Starc returned to dismiss Asad Shafiq and Yasir Shah to finish with 3/45.

Hazlewood, on the other hand, added the wicket of Wahab Riaz to finish with 3/19 off 11 extremely tight overs. The opening bowling combination of Australia has been phenomenal right through the year and they carried on their good work to pile on Pakistan's misery.

#2 Younis Khan continues his wretched run

Younis Khan fell to Hazlewood and continued his poor form

Younis Khan, one of Pakistan's greatest batsman, is in a rut at the moment with runs hardly coming by. He struggled against the Kiwis in the previous series, barely managing to cross 10 once.

His last five scores before this Test read - 2, 1, 2, 11 and 0. He added another duck to his bag to take his tally to 16 runs in 6 innings, his lowest in six consecutive innings in Tests.

He walked to the wicket after the fall of Babar Azam to Hazlewood and promptly edged his first ball to the keeper, a length delivery from Hazlewood that moved a touch away. Given that he is the most experienced batsman in the side, his poor form is costing Pakistan dear.

#1 Jackson Bird shows his class

Bird picked up the key wicket of Sami Aslam

Australia have often been left searching for their first change seamer this summer as Sri Lanka and South Africa dug into the attack after the spells of Starc and Hazlewood. They tried Peter Siddle, Joe Mennie and Jackson Bird as their third seamer.

Bird seemed to be the best of the lot after he lent good support to the frontline seamers in Adelaide against the Proteas. On Day 2, he was at it again and provided no relief for Pakistan after Starc and Hazlewood had broken apart their top order.

He continued their good work dismissing Misbah-ul-Haq and the resilient Sami Aslam to reduce Pakistan to 56/6. He was exceptionally tight giving away just 7 runs in his 9 overs, 6 of which were maidens.