Australia sealed a Twenty20 series victory over Pakistan with one match to spare in Bellerive Oval on Monday after a nervy final-over win in their second T20 clash.
The visitors, which is said to be Australia’s B-team, seemed on course to cruise to a series success when they lost momentum after making over fifty runs in the third over.
The Mohammad Rizwan-led side got back into the game when pacer Haris Rauf got Jake Fraser-McGurk and Josh Inglis in his single over. They were the set batters.
Still, the Aussies managed to put up a decent total on the scoreboard thanks to cameos from Aaron Hardie and Glen Maxwell.
To clinch the series, they had set a 148-run target for Pakistan.
Australian skipper Inglis said he “wasn’t too sure” if their total of 147 was enough to defend and admitted that the middle of their innings had been “really tough” as Pakistan’s bowlers adapted to conditions.
“There are so many options in this team. Every time I brought Spencer [Johnson] back tonight he got us a wicket,” he said and added that captaincy was a “tough work”.
Pakistan skipper Rizwan was disappointed after the match as he blamed dropped catches for their loss.
“If you look at the whole scenario of the match, if you drop crucial catches at a crucial time then it will always cost you,” he said.
“If you play against Australia, we know they are not an easy team in these conditions and if you give them chances like that, you’ll make it very difficult,” Rizwan added.
The Green Shirts struggled with batting in the first 10 over as they lost crucial wickets and failed to score maximum boundaries. Middle order batter Usman Khan made fifty to give some hope to the side. He made a 58-run partnership with Irfan Khan.
Tail-enders could not give the required support to Khan in the last stage of the game. They failed to make 16 runs last over of the game.
Haris Rauf took 4-22 as Pakistan restricted Australia to 147-9 in the second game of their T20 series at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Saturday.
After a rip-roaring start by the hosts, Pakistan bowled beautifully to peg them back, with Abbas Afridi (3-17) also impressive.
But they were let down by sloppy fielding with a slew of dropped catches. Matthew Short top-scored with 32.
Electing to bat first in front of a big crowd, Australia clobbered 21 runs in the opening over off Shaheen Shah Afridi.
Jake Fraser-McGurk blasted 18 of them, but was fortunate after being dropped by Naseem Shah on the fourth ball he faced.
Shah’s first delivery was then hit for six by Short as they carried the aggressive approach into the next over.
The duo stitched together a highly entertaining 52-run opening stand off just 22 balls before Rauf struck twice in three deliveries.
After tempting Fraser-McGurk (20) into another slog that was collected in the deep by Salman Agha, he enticed a leading edge from Josh Inglis (0) that was taken at point by Sufiyan Muqeem.
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Pakistan had their tails up and Short quickly followed for 32, bowled by Abbas Afridi, with three wickets falling for just four runs.
Marcus Stoinis survived two dropped catches but finally fell on 14, reverse-sweeping to Muqeem, who was brought into side for Haseebullah Khan.
Muqeem’s wrist-spin then accounted for dangerman Glenn Maxwell (21) as the runs dried up.
Big-hitter Tim David was removed by Rauf for 18 and he bagged his fourth by bowling Xavier Bartlett (5). Aaron Hardie made a handy 28 before Abbas Afridi removed him and Spencer Johnson in successive balls in the final over.
The hosts lead the series 1-0 after winning a rain-hit match reduced to seven overs a side in Brisbane on Thursday by 29 runs.
