A perfect Ramadan gift for Pakistani cricket lovers out there. Pakistan sealing the home series against Australia. What a knock by ‘Notorious’ Babar Azam to give his side a strong win and a great gift to all the cricket fans in Pakistan.
In the third ODI match, Pakistan again from the beginning was dominant and didn’t let the visitors’ score runs. From the bowling attack first ball Shaheen Shah Afridi delivered was bang on the stumps to send Travis Head to the dressing room.
And then Pakistani batsmen Imam-ul-Haq and Babar Azam played their classy innings to chase the target without any issue. This series win also made a historic moment because since 1998 Pakistan didn’t win any series against Australia.
But in Babar Azam’s captaincy, this home series also happened and secured the win.
Pakistan defeated Australia to win the home series
Pakistan again won the toss and elected to bowl first. Shaheen Shah Afridi stunned the Australian team and especially Travis head with the first ball wicket. He was surprised how did this happen, while Afridi got busy celebrating with his teammates.
Within in few minutes, Haris Rauf also joined the party and sent the skipper Aaron Finch to the pavilion with the stunning LBW. Marnus Labuschangne also couldn’t help his team to score more runs and got out.
Ben McDermott and Alex Carey tried to increase the scoreboard with that help Australia managed to set the target of 210 runs.
It was just a cup of the team for Pakistani batsmen and the way it got started was brilliant. Although Fakhar Zaman got out early, the danger man came in and sabotaged Australia’s dream to win the series. Babar Azam joined Imam-ul-Haq and brilliantly played their innings.
For the second time consecutively Babar Azam scored a hundred and surpassed Mohammed Yousuf. Yes! Along with the series win, Babar Azam managed to add another record to his bag.
Pakistan eventually made a big comeback in the second ODI where Babar Azam again played a skipper innings to defeat Australia.
King Babar Azam with another record
Yesterday Babar Azam scored another ton, which made him surpass flamboyant Mohammad Yousuf in the list of most ODI centuries by a Pakistani batter.
Second, the most hundreds by a Pakistani batter in ODIs, it was his 16th ODI century and the list of most tons currently led by Saeed Anwar with 20 tons.
Babar Azam has now the best century percentage among all the batters who have batted in at least 30 innings.
The skipper also received man of the match and player of the series awards too. At the presentation ceremony, the skipper said, “after losing the first match, one needs the confidence to come back and credits his team for coming back strongly and putting up a good performance.
Tells that if one gets early wickets in the first 10 overs then the opposition gets under pressure and the bowlers executed the plan very well. Mentions that he enjoys the pressure and tries to keep himself calm. Adds that as a captain he focuses on the result and not individual performance.”
Aaron Finch disappointed with his performance
Australian skipper’s bad performance continued and he’s in big disappointment. He said, “Obviously, it hasn’t been up to scratch.
I’ve been well short of runs in the Sri Lanka series and this series here, there’s no doubting that,” he said. “I don’t need you to tell me that. It’s frustrating, no doubt, and as you get older, I think you probably question yourself a little bit more.
“But I still feel as though all my training has been positive, it’s just been the first couple of balls, getting my pad in the way. It’s been a thing throughout my career and it would be nice if it didn’t happen – but I’m still very confident I can turn it round in the next series against Sri Lanka.”
He also praised his new debutants who joined the tour. “What was impressive was how good our quicks were at different times,” he said. “It was a great opportunity for guys like Nathan Ellis, Mitch Swepson, Jason Behrendorff, Sean Abbott, and Cameron Green to get more bowling under their belt in international cricket against some world-class players.
“The ability to bowl to the best players in the world on really challenging wickets will help not just them but also hold the Australian cricket team in really good stead.
“It will allow us to continue to learn about the depth of the team. That’s not hiding behind the results; the ability of the guys to learn on the job in international cricket is super, and I’m proud of how the guys tried their hearts out.”
Now on the 5th of April Pakistan and Australia collide to win the T20 series where Pakistan needs to take revenge and claim another home series win too.
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