The Aussies ended their historic tour of Pakistan on a happy note, winning the trip’s solitary T20I in Lahore on April 5 by three wickets after a close-fought battle at the Gaddafi Stadium. The Aaron Finch-led side chased down the target of 163 with three wickets intact and five balls left in the proceedings.
Australia kept Pakistan down to a manageable score of 162/8 despite opposition captain and batting giant Babar Azam coming up with his best. The elegant right-hander smashed his way to a 46-ball 66 at the top of the order, featuring six fours and two sixes.
But a stand-out spell from pacer Nathan Ellis (4/28) helped the hosts keep their foot in the contest, with allrounder Cameron Green (2/16), Adam Zampa (1/29) and Sean Abbott (1/28) also proving mighty effective for the team.
A collective effort from them created sustained pressure at the non-Babar end, and that meant little substance from the middle and lower order for Australia. The next highest score for Pakistan was 24 off 21 balls from No.5 Khushdil Shah. It took an impressive late-order cameo of 18* off six balls from wristspinner Usman Qadir for the hosts to reach the 160-run mark.
Australia had a similar outing with the bat in hand, with Babar’s counterpart Finch leading the pack via a 45-ball 55 to control the innings from an end, while the rest had their stutters. Still, it would be ignorant to downplay the impact of little cameos from Travis Head (26), Josh Inglis (24) and Marcus Stoinis (23) before a measured effort from Ben McDermott (22* off 19) took Australia home.
Pakistan had the trio of Shaheen Afridi (2/21), Qadir (2/33) and Mohammad Wasim Jr (2/30) sharing two wickets apiece in their fine spells. But lack of sufficient runs on the board eventually came back to haunt the Pakistanis, who would’ve been eyeing a total in excess of 170-175.
Brief scores
Pakistan 162/8 in 20 overs (Babar Azam 66; Nathan Ellis 4/28, Cameron Green 2/16) lost to Australia 163/7 in 19.1 overs (Aaron Finch 55; Shaheen Afridi 2/21, Mohammad Wasim Jr 2/30) by 3 wickets
