Pakistan Makes History in Australia, Wins Series After 22 Years
The team that was struggling at home just two days ago, Pakistan, has now handed Australia a bitter taste of series defeat on their own soil. They have shaken the Australian stronghold with the power of their traditional strength, pace bowling, something that Pakistan hadn’t managed to do in nearly two decades.
The three-match series was tied at 1-1 after the first two games. Today (Sunday), the third match was the de facto final. Pakistan secured the series by defeating Australia by 8 wickets.
After losing the toss in Perth, Australia batted first and collapsed under the pressure of Pakistani bowlers, getting bowled out for just 140 runs in 31.5 overs. Shaheen Afridi and Naseem Shah each took three wickets. In response, Pakistan reached the target in just 26.5 overs, losing only two wickets.
Pakistan last won an ODI series in Australia in June 2002. Since then, until today, they hadn’t tasted victory. The series win came with the efforts of players like Naseem Shah and Saim Ayub, who were likely not even born during the last victory.
Despite being on the brink of defeat, Australia won the first match and took the lead in the series. However, Pakistan made no mistakes in the second match and maintained their form in the third. The Australian batsmen couldn’t withstand the pressure of Pakistan’s pace attack.
Australia lost six wickets for only 88 runs under the relentless bowling of four pacers. Naseem dismissed Jack Fraser-McGurk, who scored 7, while Afridi sent Aaron Hardie (12 runs off 13 balls) back to the pavilion. Captain Inglis also failed, scoring only 7.
Haris dismissed opener Matthew Short, who had scored 22. However, Sean Abbott and Adam Zampa formed a 30-run partnership for the eighth wicket, pushing Australia’s score past 100. Zampa was dismissed by Naseem after scoring 13 runs off 22 balls.
Abbott, along with Spencer Johnson, added 22 runs for the ninth wicket, bringing Australia’s score close to 150. Abbott was the highest scorer with 30 runs off 41 balls, while Spencer was dismissed after scoring 12 runs.
Afridi and Naseem took three wickets each for Pakistan, Haris claimed two, and Hasnain took one.
Chasing the target, Pakistan’s opening pair, Saim Ayub and Abdullah Shafique, put up 84 runs. However, Lance Morris dismissed both openers within one run. In the 18th over, he sent Shafique and Saim back to the pavilion.
Before getting out, Shafique scored 37 runs off 53 balls, and Saim scored 42 runs off 52 balls. Babar Azam and Rizwan then took the team to victory with an unbeaten partnership of 58 runs. Babar remained not out with 28 runs off 30 balls, while Rizwan scored 30 runs off 27 balls.
