Pakistan won the series 2-1 by defeating Australia by nine wickets in the last one-dayer on Saturday. Babar Azam, the captain, scored his second century in a row. Captain Babar sped to his second perfect century in three days, while Imam continued to tease the visitors with 89no, as the brilliant duo cruised past Australia’s pitiful 210 all out with 73 balls to spare.
After losing the opening match on Tuesday, their undefeated second-wicket combination of 190 helped the hosts to a 2-1 series win, giving the cricket-crazed nation its first home ODI series victory against Australia since 1988. By dismissing Australia for 210 in 42 overs, Pakistan’s explosive pace trio of Haris Rauf, Mohammad Wasim, and Shaheen Afridi laid the foundation for victory.
Babar Azam hammered an unbeaten 105 and opener Imam-ul-Haq scored an unbeaten 89 not out as Pakistan cruised to victory with 12.2 overs to spare.When Australia was given the opportunity to bat, they got off to a disastrous start, falling to six for three. With the first ball of the match, Shaheen (2-40) dismissed the in-form Travis Head,
then Haris (3-39) dismissed Aaron Finch and Marnus Labuschagne in quick succession. Alex Carey (56) led the foreigners in scoring, with Ben McDermott (36), Sean Abbott (49), and Cameron Green (34) helping them reach 200 points. The Australian bowlers had very little to defend. Fakhar Zaman was dismissed for 17 runs by Nathan Ellis, but Imam and Babar ensured there was no spectacular batting collapse that would let Australia reclaim the lead.
Babar blasted 12 boundaries in his 16th ODI century, which he shared with Imam in an unbroken 190-run stand. Australia will end their first tour of Pakistan in 24 years with a one-off Twenty20 match on Tuesday, also in Lahore, after winning the three-test series 1-0.
Aaron Finch, Australia’s captain, bemoaned the lack of runs. Finch stated, “We didn’t get enough runs.” It’s always going to be difficult to get a huge total when you’re three down in the opening few overs. Fast bowlers Haris Rauf (3-39), Mohammad Wasim (3-40), and Shaheen Shah Afridi (2-40) had earlier kept the pressure on Australia from the start, bowling them out in 41.5 overs.
Fakhar Zaman was dismissed for 17 runs by Nathan Ellis, but Imam and Babar ensured there was no spectacular batting collapse that would let Australia reclaim the lead. Babar blasted 12 boundaries in his 16th ODI century, which he shared with Imam in an unbroken 190-run stand.
Imam’s brilliance, which has seen him score four hundreds against Australia in Test and ODI formats, would have given him a third hundreds of the 50-over series if it hadn’t been for his captain’s haste to get to the crucial first.
Meanwhile, the visitors were knocked out for 2-0 in the second over, with Head being bowled by a Shaheen Afridi full toss on the first ball of the innings and Finch being trapped plumb lbw by Haris Rauf.
Australia was 3-6 when Marnus Labuschagne (four) was caught at slip in the sixth over. When Ben McDermott (36) was caught at cover off a leading edge, the score went to 5-67. Carey and Cameron Green (34) put together a key 81-run partnership, but there was still a chance they wouldn’t improve on their 8-165 at the SCG in 1990.
At least Abbott’s searing performance had six fours and one six in it to at least alleviate the doubts, ripping off 21 runs off one Shaheen Afridi over to anger the paceman. Mohammad Wasim (3-40) excelled for Pakistan, while Rauf (3-39) and Afridi (2-40) were also instrumental in the demolition effort.
It was a far cry from Australia’s batting performances in the first two games, when they scored 7-313 and 8-348. Finch’s bat issues are a concern as Australia prepares for the 2024 50-over World Cup.
When he was called up for this series, the 35-year-old had not played an ODI match since December 2020. Finch scored 23 off 36 balls in the series opener against Pakistan, but he was knocked out for ducks in games two and three. It’s the first time in Finch’s 228-match international career, which includes five Tests, 135 ODIs, and 88 T20s, that he has had consecutive ducks.
Published By : Ankit Singh
Edited By : Khushi Thakur
