Australia hammer Pakistan by 10 wickets to win the series
Australia hammered Pakistan by 10 wickets in the third and
final T20I match played at Optius Stadium, Perth played on Friday.
Australian captain Aaron Finch won the toss and decided to
field first. There were 3 changes in the Pakistani squad as Fakhar Zaman, Asif Ali
and Mohammad Irfan were dropped from the playing XI. It was an ideal start for
the hosts as Mitchell Starc got wickets of Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan in
successive deliveries. Imam-ul- Haq who replaced Fakhar in the opening
department played some lovely strokes but was dismissed by Sean Abbott. At the
end of 6 overs, Pakistan were struggling at 34 for 3.
After the power play overs, Iftikhar Ahmed who impressed
with his stroke play in the last match was promoted to number 5 and looked in
aggressive mood right from word go. Khusdil Shah who made his T20I debut scored
just 8 runs. The Pakistani batsmen looked out of sorts against Australian
pacers. Iftikhar Ahmed was the top scorer for Pakistan with 45. Australia
restricted Pakistan to 106 for 8 in 20 overs. For Australia, Kane Richardson
was the pick of bowlers with 3 for 18, Mitchell Starc and Sean Abbott took 2
wickets each, Ashton Agar 1.
Chasing a modest total of 107 runs to win, Australian
openers David Warner and Aaron Finch took the attack to inexperienced bowling
line up with attacking stroke play. At the end of 6 overs, Australia raced to
56 for 0.
After the power play overs, Warner and Finch continued their
attacking intent making the batting look easy hitting short balls with ease. It
was an exceptional batting display by both Australian openers who has been in
sensational form during the T20I series against Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Finch
hit the winning runs and reached his fifty off 36 balls. Australia won the
match by 10 wickets with 49 balls to spare. None of Pakistani bowlers looked threatening which
resulted in a such massive drubbing for the number 1 ranked T20I side.
Australia 109 for 0 in 11.5 overs (Aaron Finch, 52*, Warner
48*) beat Pakistan 106 for 8 in 20 overs (Iftikhar Ahmed 45, Kane Richardson
3/18, Sean Abbott 2/14) by 10 wickets.
Australia seals the 3 match T20I series by 2-0 with one
match being washed out due to rain in Sydney.
Steve Smith was awarded the man of the series for his brilliant
unbeaten knock in the 2nd T20I at Canberra.
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| Australia beat Pakistan by 10 wickets to seal the series 2-0 |
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