Australia Whitewash Pakistan In T20I Series: The Australian Cricket Team has whitewashed Pakistan in the recently concluded three-match T20I series, taking revenge for the shocking ODI series loss earlier this month.
The third of three Australia vs Pakistan T20Is was played today in the Ninja Stadium in Hobart. This was a dead rubber match, as the Aussies had won the first two games and had clinched the series.
Australia Whitewash Pakistan In T20I Series
This third match saw Pakistan win the toss and decide to bat first. This turned out to be a major error on the part of Captain Salman Ali Agha. The Men in Green seemed to have gotten a good start, hitting a few boundaries in the first couple of overs. But opener Sahibzada Farhan fell victim to pacer Spencer Johnson in the second over.
At this point, Babar Azam took charge, accelerating the innings and keeping the run rate around 9 rpo. The team got out of the powerplay having crossed the 50-run mark and losing only one wicket. But a collapse was right around the corner. Wicketkeeper Haseenbullah Khan was dismissed by Adam Zampa at the end of the seventh over.
Then came a string of wickets. First, Usman Khan was dismissed by Aaron Hardie, then skipper Salman Ali Agha got out to Hardie after scoring just one run in nine deliveries. At the 10-over mark, Pakistan were 70/4.
In the 13th over, Babar Azam finally got out, being bowled by Zampa for 41 off 28. In the next over, Irfan Khan was run out, and then Abbas Afridi got out in the same over. The Asian giants were reeling at 92/7. But their misery was not about to end here, as in the next four or so overs, the team scored 25 runs and lost their remaining wickets, getting all out for 117 in the 19th over.
After such a disappointing batting display, it seemed that it was the batting order that seemed to have lost the plot in this match. But what happened next put the blame on the bowling as well.
After such a small first-inning score, it is usually assumed that the team batting second would struggle as well. But that did not happen. While yes, openers Matt Short and Jake Fraser-McGurk were out within the first four overs, the batting to come made their job look easy.
While captain and wicketkeeper Josh Inglis played a measured and supporting knock, Marcus Stoinis was the star of the show. He kept the scoring rate around 8-9 rpo for the whole inning, even pushing it past 10 in the last few overs.
Stoinis’ brilliant inning of 61 off 27 was the highlight of the match. After Inslis got out in the 10th over, Tim David came out to bat but didn’t get much strike, as Marcus had decided to finish the match as soon as possible, as Australia reached the 118-run target in just 11.2 overs.
For his batting exploits, Marcus Stoinis won the Player of the Match award, while Spencer Johnson won the Player of the Series award for taking eight wickets in three games, which included a fifer in the second match.
This was also the Kangaroos’ revenge on Pakistan, as the visitors had won the ODI series on the same tour 2-1.
As to what’s next for the Australian Cricket Team, they will now face India in a five-match Test series at home, the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, the first match of which will be played in Perth from November 22.
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