When Pakistan nearly won the MCG over before Mitch Marsh stole the show

Like all great arenas, the MCG has its own unique vibe. It's got its own unique feel. It's got its own unique aura. It's also got its own unique sound. But at around 1.40 pm on Thursday (December 28), the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground was sounding a lot different. It was still customarily loud, but it had a rather unprecedented energy.

The MCG was roaring in unison, like they do here by creating that oooOOAAahh crescendo with a single note, after all for an opposition fast bowler charging in for his hat-trick ball. It's not like Mir Hamza had won them over completely. Or that they were happy to see the back of David Warner and Travis Head in consecutive deliveries. With Mitchell Marsh having won them over, watching him getting cleaned-up first ball wasn't on their to-watch list either.

But with his double-strike, which came in the midst of an excellent spell with the new-ball, the relatively-unknown journeyman seam bowler from Karachi had brought the Test and the series alive, nearly against the run of play.

Having reduced Australia to 4/16, only 70 runs in front, the left-armer had unexpectedly lifted Pakistan to a position from where they seemed favourites. So much so that he was playing pied piper to the thousands of Australians around the grand venue just like he was with the Australian batters in the middle. And they were responding in kind. The hat-trick wasn't to be eventually with Marsh surviving.

A few overs later, there was a collective gasp that rung out around the MCG. Once again, it had the same intensity as every extreme crowd reaction you witness here. But this time too, it didn't seem to matter that it was an opposition fielder who'd produced an extraordinary blooper, with Abdullah Shafique dropping his second regulation catch at a crucial juncture at first slip. If it was David Warner in the third over of the first innings on Boxing Day, it was Marsh on 20 and with the Australian lead at exactly a 100 this time around. The disbelief in the Pakistani camp was replicated by the shock writ large on every face in every bay of the 'G. It wasn't once again a case of the Melbourne faithful wanting Marsh to get out or them suddenly developing a soft corner for the bowler, Aamer Jamal, who to his credit had entertained them earlier in the day with the bat. It was instead the significance of the moment. And the impact that wicket could potentially have had on the innings, on the match and even the series. Not to forget the entire Pakistan team, and maybe even Pakistan cricket. It really was a moment in time. One that could have turned the visitors' hopes of somehow clawing their way back into this series into a certain belief that they were doing just that at the MCG.

Sadly, for Pakistan, it wasn't to be. It was also the last time on Day 3 that the MCG held its collective nerve for the Pakistanis.

For, that point on, the attention shifted completely to the Mitchell Marsh Show. Five years ago, they had turned their back on him. Today, they lent him their heart-strings to be tugged at. And the big Western Australian did not disappoint, playing one of the important knocks of his Test career. The skies stayed grey, the Pakistani pacers stayed earnest with their lines and lengths, and the pitch stayed tricky for the entirety of his stay in the middle. But after a few hefty plays and misses early on, Marsh found his groove through attacking every delivery outside his off-stump, and also gaining confidence in keeping the stump-line deliveries away as his innings progressed post the drop. It was in keeping with how he's gone about regaining and then cementing his No 6 slot in the Test team. Backing himself and the team's belief in him being the enforcer at that position, regardless of the match scenario or the circumstances. Though there was some very shrewd science behind the method, with Marsh later revealing how he'd decided to try and attack the square boundaries rather than risk driving balls down the ground on this pitch.

The thousands of rather parochial and partisan Victorians around the MCG were of course hanging off every power-packed cut shot and every run as he got closer to what seemed like an inevitable ton. So too were the Marsh family in their box.

But then came the ultimate collective reaction of them all from the MCG crowd on Thursday. Courtesy one of the best slip catches the ground has ever seen, when Agha Salman threw himself to his right and nonchalantly got his right hand to a ball that was flying past him after having taken a meaty edge off Marsh's bat. This wasn't so much a gasp as an almighty groan of despondency and disappointment as Marsh walked off throwing his head back, having fallen four runs short of his century. This reaction at least didn't feel out of place but still was a sign of how much the Mitch Marsh-MCG relationship has turned the corner, and also how vital his knock was in the context of the match.

The brilliance of Salman compared to the ridiculous abjectness of Shafique earlier also summed up the traditional yin and yang nature of Pakistan on the cricket field. And on a day that they briefly had the MCG on their side, they also let them get away, in a way only Pakistan can. Like they probably have done with the Test itself with chances of getting either back on their side looking highly unlikely at this stage.