The third day of the first Test match between Australia and Pakistan saw lesser number of wickets and many more runs scored as the match looked to have got to an interesting position.
The main issue on the previous couple of days was the overcast conditions which caused the ball to nip around and made life difficult for the batting side. However, the sun was out on the third day and that allowed the batsmen to score more freely than before. 
Australia started off at 100/4 and it was night watchman, Mitchell Johnson who kept going after the bowling. He smashed five fours in his innings of 30, before he was dislodged by a slower fulltoss by Umar Gul. 
Marcus North joined Katich, and the pair added 39 runs for the sixth wicket, before Katich, who had scored his third 80 in four innings was sent back by Gul, caught behind, while North followed at the same score off Mohammad Asif. All of a sudden, Australia were 188/7 and in the danger of being bowled out pretty quickly. When Steve Smith was dismissed, LBW off his counterpart leg-spinner, Danish Kaneria, it was only 208/8 and a sub-230 score beckoned.
However, the last three batsmen, Tim Paine, Ben Hilfenhaus and Doug Bollinger had different ideas as they dug in deep and ensured that the side added 126 more runs for the last couple of wickets. From a supposed target of 315, that could still have been manageable, Pakistan were looking at 440 for a win – the highest ever to win a Test match!
Paine made 47 but the surprise contribution came from Hilfenhaus, who scored 56. Gul ended with a four wicket haul.
Chasing 440 for a win, the side were off to a much better start than in the first innings. Salman Butt and Imran Farhat added 50 for the first wicket, before Farhat (24), tried to muscle a short Smith delivery away but only managed to give a simple catch to Shane Watson. Smith had taken his first Test match wicket.
Debutant Azhar Ali then gave Butt valuable company and the pair saw some anxious moments off to end the day at 114/1 and with a chance to make a good fist of the target. Butt had scored the second half century of the game and was batting on 58.