Much of the pre-match attention may have been on veteran David Warner's last test for Australia, but it was the pace bowlers who stole the spotlight Wednesday by ripping through Pakistan's fragile top order in a torrid opening session.
Australia skipper Pat Cummins snared two wickets as Pakistan slumped to 75-4 at lunch after winning the toss and opting to bat at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
Cummins, coming off a ten-wicket haul in the Boxing Day test at Melbourne, took the key wicket of Babar Azam. Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood set the tone by each taking a wicket in the first two overs.
At the break, Pakistan captain Shan Masood was unbeaten on 32 and Mohammad Rizwan was 12 not out, digging-in for a 28-run stand as the tourists try and avoid a series sweep.
Starc (1-28) struck with the second ball, teasing Shafique into an uncontrolled swipe which the opener could only edge through to Steve Smith at second slip.
Hazlewood (1-23) struck in the next over when he had test rookie Saim Ayub edging through to Alex Carey in his debut innings.
From 4-2, Babar and Massood started the rebuild for Pakistan, with Babar especially attacking the Aussie quick bowlers.
But the rally was short-lived as Cummins removed Babar (26) with a ball that came back at the right-hander and struck him on the pad. Umpire Michael Gough turned down the initial Australian appeal, but the TV umpire overturned the decision to reduce Pakistan to 39-3 at the end of the first hour.
Saud Shakeel was Cummins' second wicket, edging behind to Carey to leave Pakistan's first innings in tatters at 47-4.
The lead up to the match has been almost exclusively about Warner's last test for Australia, and the 112-test veteran, flanked by his three daughters, led the home team out on to the SCG for his final test.
On Tuesday, Warner took to social media to plead for the return of his “baggy green” test cricket cap which was in a bag that went missing in transit between Melbourne and Sydney this week. On Wednesday, he was wearing a new cap.
Australia won the first two tests in Perth and Melbourne to clinch the three-match series but with World Test Championship points at stake, Australia named an unchanged lineup for the third consecutive match.
Pakistan, which hasn't beaten Australia in a test Down Under since 1985, rested pace bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi to bring in a second spinner, Sajid Khan, and dropped Imam-ul-Haq to bring in 21-year-old Ayub.
