Pakistan’s all-round performance with both bat and ball helped the team to register a series win at the Perth Stadium on Sunday after a long gap of 22 years.
The Green Brigade went on to win the three-match ODI series against the hosts 2-1 after being 0-1 down.
Chasing a mere total of 141 runs, the Men in Green openers Saim Ayub and Abdullah Shafique started off the innings with a positive intent and played carefully for some overs in the start.
Both players brought up their 50-run partnership on the second ball of the 11th over after running three runs on the bowling of left-arm seamer Spencer Johnson.
The visitors lost their first wicket on the first ball of the 18th over when the team score was 84 runs. Abdullah Shafique was sent back to the pavilion after scoring 37 runs off 53 balls which came with the help of one four and one six each in his innings as he was dismissed by right-arm seamer Lance Morris.
In the same over, Morris sent back the other opener to the dressing room when the team score was 85 runs. The southpaw went back after scoring 42 runs from 52 balls laced four boundaries and one maximum in his innings.
After Saim Ayub’s departure, wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan came out in the middle to bat along with right-hand batter Babar Azam.
The Pakistan side touched the 100-run mark in the 22nd over. Both batters brought up their 50-run partnership in the 26th over.
The Pakistan side went on to win the match on the penultimate ball of the 27th over of their batting.
Babar and Rizwan built an unbeaten partnership of 58 runs in just 5.3 overs which guided them to an ODI series win in Australia for the first time since 2002.
Earlier in the match, Pakistan skipper Mohammad Rizwan won the toss and elected to bowl first.
Batting first, Australia were bundled out 140 runs in 31.5 overs which came with the help of knocks from Sean Abbott (30 runs off 41 balls with two fours and one six) and Matthew Short (22 runs in 30 balls with only one boundary). In Pakistan’s batting, 22 runs out of 140 came through extras.
For Pakistan, three wickets each were snapped by Shaheen Afridi (3/32 in 8.5 overs) and Naseem Shah (3/54 in 9 overs) in their respective spell. Two wickets were grabbed by Haris Rauf (2/24 in 7 overs) and one wicket was bagged by Mohammad Hasnain (1/24 in 7 overs).
Brief Scores: Pakistan 143 for 2 in 26.5 overs (Saim Ayub 42, Abdullah Shafique 37, Lance Morris 2/24) beat Australia 140 in 31.5 overs (Sean Abbott 30, Mathew Short 22, Shaheen Afridi 3/32) by eight wickets. (ANI)
