HARRARE – The final of the tri-series between Pakistan and Australia yetagain proved to be a close tie after Aussies won the toss and elected tobat first.
D’Arcy Short and Aaron Finch continued their successful partnership andlaid a solid foundation for the Aussies after scoring 76 and 47respectively. However, Pakistan recovered from the early blow and tookrapid wickets following the dismissal of the openers.
Mohammad Amir stepped up for the Greens and took 3 wickets in his 4 overswhereas Shadab Khan took 2. The pacers — Shaheen Afridi, Hasan Ali andFaheem Ashraf — all contributed by dismissing one batsman each.
Despite the rapid fall of wickets, Australia managed to put up a huge totalof 183 for 8 after 20 overs.
Pakistan started the innings rather poorly as Sahibzada Farhan, making hisfull T20I debut, was stumped off Maxwell without scoring a run. HussainTalat followed the same fate and returned to the pavilion without scoringafter three deliveries.
Pakistan had lost 2 early wickets in the first over and were 2-2 followingthe completion of it.
The Greens were demonstrating a customary meltdown under pressure untilFakhar Zaman stepped up alongside the captain Sarfraz. Both players whackedthe Australians all across the park.
Sarfraz, however, was run-out on 28 and managed 4 boundaries and 1 maximum.The dismissals did not bother Fakhar much as he kept his nerves andcontinued playing his natural game.
Shoaib Malik came in next and joined Fakhar in the middle. Both batsmenlooked confident and crossed the 100 partnership to give Pakistan a glimpseof victory.
The match, however, did not end there as Fakhar departed after making 91runs and Pakistan were left requiring 30 runs from 21 deliveries at thatstage.
The pressure started building up but power hitting from Asif Ali and Malikcame in handy and saw Pakistan over the victory line.
It is worth adding that this is Pakistan’s 9th successive T20I series win,most by any other in the history of the format.
Australia — 183 for 8 (20 overs)DJM Short — 76 (53) Mohammad Amir — 3 for33 (4)AJ Finch — 47 (27) Shadab Khan — 2for 38 (4)
Pakistan — 187 for 4 (19.2 overs)Fakhar Zaman — 91 (46) GJ Maxwell — 2 for 35 (3)Shoaib Malik — 43* (37) JA Richardson — 1 for29 (4)
Man of the Match: Fakhar ZamanMan of the Series: Fakhar Zaman