Pakistan defeated Australia in a historic ODI series win on April 2 after clinching the third and final encounter in Lahore by nine wickets. Babar Azam and co. dominated the Aussies at the Gaddafi Stadium to pull off their country’s first ODI series victory against the team from Down Under since 2002.
Heading into the three-match series, Pakistan had won only 10 of their 53 ODIs against Australia since the turn of the century. But Babar’s team made some amends on that front, coming back very strongly from their loss in the series opener with two successive wins.
Babar led his team from the front, scoring yet another century. He smashed his way to an unbeaten 105 on the night to help Pakistan make a straightforward feast of their run-chase of Australia’s 210 all out. In-form batter Imam-ul-Haq also produced the goods with a knock of 85 not out in the second half. It was fitting that the Babar-Imam duo was there to finish off the proceedings, as they were Pakistan’s two stand-out batters in the series.
But for all their excellence in these three games, Imam and Babar would be the first ones to admit that the series-decider was tilted decisively in Pakistan’s favour by their bowlers. Shaheen Afridi (2/40) gave his team an excellent start, dismissing Australia’s dangerous opener Travis Head for a first-ball duck.
An early breakthrough gave Pakistan all the momentum, and they rallied their way from there on, with pacers Haris Rauf (3/39) and Mohammad Wasim Jr (3/40) bagging three wickets apiece.
Australia lost the game in the first half, where they were outdone by some class Pakistani bowling on another relatively flat surface in Lahore. They were reduced to 0-2, a position they never recovered from despite some notable efforts from Ben McDermott (36), Alex Carey (56), Cameron Green (34) and Sean Abbott (49). Australia needed one of them to carry on and get a big hundred.
Brief scores
Australia 210/10 in 41.5 overs (Carey 56, Abbott 49; Rauf 3/39) lost to Pakistan 214/1 in 37.5 overs (Azam 105*, Imam-ul-Haq 85*; Ellis 1/38) by 9 wickets
