Impossible, Muhammad Ali once told us, is not a fact, nor a declaration. It is a dare. It is potential. It is temporary. The most abridged version of his famous quote comes down to three words: "Impossible is nothing."
In cricketing terms, a fourth-innings Test chase of nearly 500 has always been viewed as impossible. And with good reason: of all the 1504 times that a team has batted in the fourth innings of a Test, only once has that team scored more than 500. That one occasion was in 1939, in the famous timeless Test in Durban, when 10 days of play was insufficient to bring a result, and the match ended only because England had to catch their ship home.
So when Steven Smith declared at the dinner break on day three at the Gabba, setting Pakistan 490 to win, their task seemed impossible. Time was not an issue. They had seven sessions ahead of them, plenty of time to score 490 runs. But this was a team that had been rolled for 142 in the first innings. A team that had been embarrassed. A team that might not take the match into day four, and certainly not day five.
But Pakistan don't believe anything is impossible. This is a team that reached No.1 in the world this year, despite not having played a Test in their own country since 2009. For Pakistan, every Test is an away Test. Away from friends, away from family, away from home. Away from everything. And yet, they reached No.1. Impossible is nothing.
Pakistan began the final day at the Gabba needing 108 to win with two wickets in hand. Asad Shafiq was well set, and already had a hundred. Yasir Shah was at the crease with him. Yasir can bat well enough to pull his weight. Runs came, then more, and more, and more. Before Australia knew it, Pakistan needed 41 runs with both wickets still in hand. Then Shafiq fell to a searing Mitchell Starc bouncer, Yasir was run-out, and it was all over.
"As the skipper of the Pakistan team, I am happy to see the team play like that," Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq said after the game. "Chasing 490 in the last innings after we got out for 142 in the first innings, the character of all the batsmen showed. That was wonderful. That set the tone for the series.
"At the moment, I could not explain how happy I am for all the guys, especially Asad. That is one of the classiest innings I have seen. In the context of the game, the way he handled the pressure playing with the tail, he just made a match out of nothing. There were a lot of positives for us, especially in Australia where batting is your main problem."
Pakistan were eventually bowled out for 450, the equal third-highest fourth-innings total in Test history. The only one higher, besides the timeless Test 654 back in 1939, was New Zealand's 451 against England in Christchurch in 2002, also in a losing cause. Although Shafiq led Pakistan's fight, valuable innings were also played by Azhar Ali (71), Younis Khan (65), Mohammad Amir (48), Wahab Riaz (30), and Yasir (33).
"The mindset was positive," Misbah said. "We wanted to create something out of that, and we wanted to score runs. Azhar Ali's knock was special, and then Younis Khan, that partnership was special for us. Asad Shafiq, the way Sarfraz played in the first innings ... that gave us a glimpse that these are battable conditions and if we can apply ourselves we can score runs.
"In the second innings, everybody was determined, they showed character. They went in and played their shots and it changed the whole scenario."
Pakistan's fight sets up a fascinating series, for the Gabba was likely to be the ground that would suit them the least of the three venues. If they can maintain the same level of performance as they displayed in the second innings in Brisbane, the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne and the New Year's Test in Sydney should be highly competitive.
"They are capable of performing in any conditions because they are mentally tough, they have played enough cricket and they understand Test cricket," Misbah said. "They showed great courage, I am happy. When you lose always you feel a bit of disappointment but overall I am a happy man the way we played."