Pat Cummins took a five-wicket haul for the third successive innings as Australia dismissed a defiant Pakistan for 313 on the opening day of the third Test on Wednesday to allow David Warner a brief evening cameo with the bat in his final match.

At lunch, the tourists were 75 for four with skipper Shan Masood on 32 and wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan 12. Pat Cummins had taken 2-16 from five overs.

Pat Cummins confirmed on Tuesday that the same team that won the first test in Perth by 360 runs and the second in Melbourne by 79 runs would take the field for the final clash at Sydney Cricket Ground on Wednesday.

David Warner has been given the hometown farewell from Test cricket he craved after the opening batsman was named in an unchanged Australia line-up for the third and final Test against Pakistan in Sydney next week.

A fired-up Pat Cummins bagged five wickets and 10 in the match to earn Australia a nail-biting 79-run win in the second Test and clinch the series against a battling Pakistan Friday.

Set 317 for victory, the visitors put up a stellar fight as they chased their first Test triumph in Australia since 1995.

Australia skipper Pat Cummins said that he produced a ‘dream ball’, the outcome of which was even unknown to him, to get rid of Pakistan’s star batter Babar Azam on Day 2 of their Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Wednesday.

Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon put Australia in the driving seat of the second Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Wednesday to leave Pakistan tottering at 194-6, still 124 runs behind on day two.

Khawaja has been denied permission by the International Cricket Council (ICC) to have a sticker showing a black dove holding an olive branch on his bat and shoes during the second Test against Pakistan.

Showers and potential thunderstorms are expected for the first day of play but are forecast to clear by Wednesday afternoon and Cummins said he was confident of a result.

Cummins broke the record of English all-rounder Sam Curran, who had received INR 18.5 crores by Punjab Kings in the previous edition.

Players can start the bidding for their services at up to $240,000 but the best will be snapped up for many times that.

"No doubt he was missed over there in England (during this year’s Ashes series) for sure. As a captain, it makes it a lot easier knowing that bloke who has played 100-odd Test matches that knows his craft and can bowl pretty much in any conditions, you just let him get to work so it's great having him back. Yeah, another 500 to go."

Captain Pat Cummins said Tuesday that cricketers were "not robots" with Australia's Twenty20 team struggling in India straight after their 50-over World Cup triumph.

In an interview with Australian newspaper The Age, the pacer was asked what moment he would remember in his deathbed.

It was an anticlimactic finish to the 2023 World Cup for arguably the largest cricketing fanbase -- India fans -- as they saw the best team on paper tumbling at the final hurdle only for Australia to clinch their sixth title last week.

Australia's World Cup winners have been denied a full-scale heroes' welcome home by a packed cricket schedule that sees them face India on Thursday at the start of a Twenty20 series, four days after meeting in the one-day final.

On Sunday, the world of sport saw a re-enactment of sorts of the Maracanazo, albeit in a different sport.

"I think that's been almost faultless, to be honest,” Ponting told Sky Sports after the match.

Australia's six-wicket win over India in front of a 92,000 crowd at Ahmedabad's Narendra Modi Stadium may have been a disappointingly one-sided final