T20I Tri-series: Pakistan beat Australia comprehensively by 45 runs
HARARE: Pakistan defeated Australia comprehensively in the last match of T20I-triangular series in Zimbabwe.
Left-arm pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi was the top performer as he took 3 wickets for 34 runs in his four overs. Afridi got the important wicket of Finch.
Meanwhile, Muhammad Amir, Shadab Khan, Usman Shinwari, and Faheem Ashraf took one wicket each.
Batting first, Pakistan set the target of 195 against Australia. Fakhar Zaman remained top scorer with 73, while Asif Ali played blistering innings of 37 on 18 balls in the depth overs taking the team to a good total.
Earlier, Australia won the toss and decided to field.
According to ICC, both sides are guaranteed their spot in Sunday’s final after Pakistan consigned the hosts Zimbabwe to a third straight defeat on Wednesday. But Pakistan need a strong performance if they are to seriously challenge Australia, who have been in scintillating form since arriving in Africa.
The first meeting between the sides yielded a nine-wicket win for Aaron Finch’s team, who won with 11.1 overs to spare after Billy Stanlake’s 4/8 helped restrict Pakistan to just 116.
Captain Finch hit a 33-ball 68* in that chase, but that was just a warm-up for what was to come the following day when the brutal right-hander made a record 172 off 76 balls against Zimbabwe.
There were pleasing contributions from Pakistan’s batsmen in their Wednesday outing – 47 for Fakhar Zaman, 44 for Hussain Talat and an unbeaten 38 for skipper Sarfraz Ahmed – but they must find away of surviving and scoring quickly off the tall, pacey Stanlake if they are to compete with the Aussies.
