"Test cricket continues to shoot itself in the foot" - Michael Vaughan on umpires halting play in 3rd Australia-Pakistan Test

Former England skipper Michael Vaughan believes the umpires halting play due to bad light on Day 2 of the Sydney Test between Australia and Pakistan was another example of Test cricket "shooting itself in the foot". He said the match should have continued with a pink ball instead.

The match was neatly poised with Australia at 116/2 chasing Pakistan's first-innings total of 313 in the second session of Day 2 when the umpires got together to ask the players to walk off.

The sky had gotten gloomy with large clouds hovering around. However, with floodlights on, there were no signs of players complaining of visibility issues.

"Just change to a pink ball and carry on .. Test cricket continues to shoot itself in the foot .." Vaughan said in a post on X.

After around 15 minutes, the umpires called early Tea for the day. This meant using the 20-minute break and adding overs to the final session. However, that might not mean much because rain is forecasted for the rest of the day.

The weather was also one of the reasons why some observers criticized the move. They felt with the rain approaching and the light not too bad, the umpires could have taken a judgment and allowed the play to continue for at least a few more overs.

Pakistan took out both openers but Australia still in a good position

David Warner and Usman Khawaja started the innings well for Australia, taking their time against the new ball and only going against the extremely loose deliveries. The former, playing his last Test, got dropped at slips early in his innings and made merry by racing past 30.

However, just before Lunch, he edged one against spinner Agha Salman for 34 (68). Khawaja and Marnus Labuschagne steadied the second session and played cautiously before Aamer Jamal, the hero with the bat in the previous innings, came to the visitors' rescue and nicked the left-hander off down the leg side.