Pakistan had won the ODI series with dominance. However, in the T20 series, Mohammad Rizwan’s team saw the opposite side of the coin, losing the series to hosts Australia with one match remaining.
Australia and Pakistan faced off in the second T20 of the three-match series on Saturday, where the visiting team lost by 13 runs under the pressure of Aussie pacer Spencer Johnson. Pakistan had also lost the first match.
Batting first after winning the toss, Australia scored 147 runs for 9 wickets in the allotted 20 overs. In response, Pakistan’s innings concluded at 134 runs in 19.4 overs with all wickets down. Spencer Johnson took 5 wickets for 26 runs.
Pakistan’s slow start with the bat was primarily what set them back in the match. Notably, captain Mohammad Rizwan scored just 16 runs off 26 balls. Babar Azam scored 3 runs off 3 balls, and Sahibzada Farhan was dismissed for 5 runs off 10 balls. Salman returned on the first ball he faced.
Pakistan lost 4 wickets for 44 runs in the first 10 overs, requiring 104 runs in the remaining 10 overs. Although the equation was tough, Usman Khan and Irfan Khan raised hopes for victory, but their efforts ultimately fell short.
Usman Khan’s 52 runs off 38 balls and Irfan Khan’s unbeaten 37 runs off 28 balls created some chances, but it wasn’t enough for a win. None of the other batsmen reached double figures. Alongside Johnson’s 5 wickets, Adam Zampa took two wickets.
Earlier, Australia had posted 52 runs in just 3.3 overs with an opening partnership between Matthew Short and Jake Fraser-McGurk. However, after Fraser-McGurk’s departure for 20 runs off 9 balls on the fourth ball of the fourth over, Australia lost momentum.
By 16.2 overs, the team hadn’t even reached 100 runs. Matthew Short was dismissed for 32 runs off 17 balls. Glenn Maxwell (21), Stoinis (14), and Tim David (18) were also dismissed quickly. Aaron Hardie’s 28 runs off 23 balls pushed the score to 147.
Haris Rauf bowled excellently, taking 4 wickets for 22 runs, while Abbas Afridi took 3 wickets for 17 runs. Spinner Sufiyan Muqeem claimed 2 wickets for 21 runs.
