LAHORE: Pakistan defeated Australia by nine wickets in the final ODI of the three-match series, courtesy of Babar Azam and Imam-ul-Haq’s stellar batting, as the Men In Green recorded their first ODI series victory against the Aussies in 20 years.
Skipper Babar Azam smashed his second successive hundred as Pakistan thrashed Australia by nine wickets in the final one-dayer to claim a 2-1 series victory on Saturday.
The foundation of the win was laid by Pakistan’s fiery pace trio of Haris Rauf, Mohammad Wasim and Shaheen Afridi who bundled out Australia for 210 inside 42 overs.
Babar smashed an unbeaten 105 and opener Imam-ul-Haq made 89 not out as they made light work of the meagre chase to guide Pakistan home with 12.2 overs to spare.
Australia, put into bat, got off to a horror start when they slumped to six for three.
Shaheen (2-40) removed in-form Travis Head with the first ball of the match before Haris (3-39) dismissed Aaron Finch and Marnus Labuschagne in quick succession.
Alex Carey (56) top-scored for the tourists and Ben McDermott (36), Sean Abbott (49) and Cameron Green (34) helped them pass the 200-mark but the Australia bowlers had little to defend.
Nathan Ellis removed Fakhar Zaman for 17 but Imam and Babar ensured there was no dramatic batting collapse that would allow Australia back into the contest.
Babar, who forged an unbroken 190-run partnership with Imam, hit 12 boundaries in his 16th ODI century.
Australia, who won the three-test series 1-0, will conclude their first tour of Pakistan in 24 years with a one-off Twenty20 match, also in Lahore, on Tuesday.
Squads
Pakistan: Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam (capt), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Asif Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Wasim, Haris Rauf, Zahid Mahmood, Shaheen Shah Afridi.
Australia: Travis Head, Aaron Finch (capt), Ben McDermott, Marnus Labuschagne, Marcus Stoinis, Alex Carey (wk), Cameron Green, Sean Abbott, Nathan Ellis, Jason Behrendorff, Adam Zampa
Twitter flooded with praise for the Babar Azam-led team Pakistan as they are bowling sensationally in the third and deciding ODI against Australia at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.
Pakistan captain Babar won the toss and sent Australia in to bat Saturday in the third and final ODI.
The three-match series is tied at 1-1 after Australia won the first by 88 runs and Pakistan the second by six wickets — both played in Lahore.
The teams made one change each from the second match — with Pakistan bringing in batter Asif Ali for Saud Shakil and Australia including pacer Jason Behrendorff in place of spinner Mitchell Swepson.
With 16 overs into the match, Pakistan have bowled out half of the batting line-up as Australia stand at 68-5.
- Travis Head (0) — wicket taken by Shaheen Shah Afridi
- Aaron Finch (0) — wicket taken by Haris Rauf
- Ben McDermott (36) — wicket taken by Mohammad Wasim
- Marnus Labuschagne (4) — wicket taken by Haris Rauf
- Marcus Stoinis (19) — wicket taken by Zahid Mahmood
At this, Twitter was all praises for the team due to their sensational performance.
Really impressed by Wasim Jr’s bowling today 👏🏼 #PAKvAUS
— Arooba🇵🇸 (@ShahidArooba03) April 2, 2022
Itni jldi Ramadan ki hai Kiya Pakistan team 😂 .. well done 👍 #PAKvAUS
— Zara forever afridian 💜 (@kkzara07) April 2, 2022
Pak is performing against aus #PAKvAUS #Cricket pic.twitter.com/LkmbkRnptD
— PCT | STAN ACC 🇵🇰 (@CricketGenius5) April 2, 2022
Every time we get a wicket and babar runs and roars , meri ankhon ko thandak aur dil ko sakoom milta he #PAKvAUS #PakvsAus2022
— Samia 🇵🇰🇵🇸 (@stfusamia) April 2, 2022
3 Days
3 Matches
Paksitan Team K 3 Roop 😈 , Simply Awesome #PAKvAUS #AUSvPAK— Ringarde (@humawithanA) April 2, 2022
Babar is happy today | #PAKvAUS #BabarAzam𓃵 pic.twitter.com/tpgfUtz94G
— Asma Khan (@Asmakhan245) April 2, 2022
In 2nd ODI Australia (B) Bowling was exposed
In 3rd ODI Aistralia (C) Batting line up is exposed#PAKvAUS— Raja Hashaam (@RajaHashaam7) April 2, 2022
