Pakistan vs Australia: Haris Rauf and Saim Ayub were the big contributors as Pakistan defeated Australia by nine wickets on Friday in the additional ODI played at Adelaide Oval.
With little pressure, thanks to the bashful 164-run ambition to chase, Pakistan openers Ayub and Abdullah Shafique were wary in the opening exchanges, with just one boundary coming off the bat in the first seven overs.
Still, once they got comfortable, runs flowed, with the youthful Saim the far more aggressive of the two. He took his chances, which paid off more frequently, also not, with the Bolshevik bringing up his partial century at the end of the 15th over.
Ayub ultimately finished with 82 balls off 71 balls laced with five boundaries and six outsides. He missed out on his mademoiselle ODI ton when Adam Tampa had him caught in the 21st over.
Shafique, the other nature, was happy to take the aft seat when Ayub was having his way with the Aussie bowlers, and he finished with an unbeaten 64 off 69 deliveries.
Babar Azam also contributed 15 and hit the winning six.
Rauf proves too hot to handle for Aussie batters
Fast bowler Haris Rauf seized a five-for and was the pick of the Pakistan bellwethers, who sailed out Australia at a bare 163 runs in just 35 overs.
The Rawalpindi-born leader,, who picked up three lattices in the 1st ODI defeat as well, was again at his ruinous style as he ripped through the Aussie middle order after the hosts were invited to the club first by toss winner Mohammad Rizwan.
Rauf’s obliteration job was eased by Shaheen Shah Afridi, who had removed both the Aussie openers, Jake Fraser-McGurk and Matthew Short, in his opening spell with the new ball.
In the end, Rauf finished with 5 lattices, Afridi with three, while Shah and Mohammad Hasnain seized a crown each.
It was only the alternate five-gate ODI haul of Rauf’s career, and he was named the player of the match for his feat.
For Australia, Steven Smith scored at 35. A number of their batters got into double numbers but failed to stay at the crease for long.
The opening ODI on Monday saw Pakistan hardly lose in what was a low-scoring hassle. Before Moment’s Palm, Pakistan hadn’t won an ODI in Australia since January 2017 when the also captain Mohammad Hafeez had inspired the side to a rare palm.
Rizwan equals the world record with 6 catches and drops the 7th.
It was also a busy and productive day behind the wickets for captain Rizwan, who grabbed a world record-equalling six catches and could have had a seventh in the end, only for him to drop a skier offered by Adam Zampa off the bowling of Naseem Shah in the 34th over.
He now shares the record with eight others, one of which is his compatriot, Sarfraz Ahmed.
Legendary Australian wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist grabbed six catches in an ODI innings the most number of times, with four such entries to his name.
We planned to be positive, not think about the result: Saim Ayub
” The most important thing is the platoon won,” said Ayub. “ We planned to be positive and not to think about the result, but the most important thing is how we play as a team.
“ Credit goes to Haris Rauf, but the other bowlers also supported him well. ”
Wasn’t our best day: Cummins
“It wasn’t one of our best days,” said Australia skipper Cummins.
“You hope you get more than 160. They bowled well but we wanted to get a bigger score.
“We got some catchers in, tried to attack, but it wasn’t to be,” he added of their bowling.
The result sets up a series decider on Sunday at Perth Stadium.
Watch the Pakistan vs Australia ball-by-ball scorecard here
Thank you for reading the article
To use free tools please click here
Most popular hosting in Pakistan
Premium Web Hosting
Everything you need to create your website gets a 20% discount
