Australia win toss, opt to bowl against Pakistan in ‘rehearsal’ for final
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HARARE: Australia won the toss and opted to bowl against Pakistan in a dead-rubber ‘rehearsal’ contest ahead of the final of the Twenty20 tri-series being played in Harare, Zimbabwe.
Pakistan knocked Zimbabwe out of the tri-series in a closely-fought encounter on Wednesday, beating the hosts by seven wickets and setting up a final date with Australia on Sunday, July 8.
Australia have won both their games in the series and look confident under the leadership of Aaron Finch, who smashed his own record for the highest individual T20I score by hitting 172 against Zimbabwe.
Pakistan outclassed hosts Zimbabwe in the series opener, but succumbed to a defeat by Australia in their second match before regaining form and beating Zimbabwe again yesterday.
Opener Fakhar Zaman top-scored for Pakistan with 47 before captain Sarfraz Ahmed overcame a spirited Zimbabwean fightback and saw his side home with an unbeaten 38.
Pakistan will face Australia again in Sunday´s final.
Playing XI
Pakistan: Fakhar Zaman, Haris Sohail, Hussain Talat, Sarfraz Ahmed (capt, wk), Shoaib Malik, Asif Ali, Shadab Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Afridi, Mohammad Amir, Usman Khan
Australia: Aaron Finch (capt), D Arcy Short, Travis Head, Glenn Maxwell, Nic Maddinson, Marcus Stoinis, Alex Carey (wk), Ashton Agar, Andrew Tye, Jhye Richardson, Billy Stanlake
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