Pakistan(National Times)- Pakistan bowlers restricted Australia to 147 on Thursday after an early blitz by openers in the second T20I of a three-match series at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Saturday. After winning the toss, Australia opted to bat against the Green Shirts. Australia currently lead the T20I series 1-0. Matthew Short’s (32 off 17) quickfire onslaught was cut short by Abbas Afridi in the seventh over after Salman Ali Agha took a backward running catch off Haris Rauf to show belligerent Jake Fraser-McGurk (20 off 9) the exit in the fourth.Australia were 61/3 at the end of the powerplay. Wicketkeeper captain Josh Inglis was routed for naught by Rauf. Then, Glen Maxwell (21), Marcus Stoinis (14) and Tim David (18) chipped in. Left-arm spinner Sufyan Muqeem took scalps of Maxwell and David, while David was caught by Abbas Afridi off Rauf. Another main contributor for the Kangroos was lower middle order batter Aaron Hardie, who scored 28 off 23, before being caught behind on Abass’s ball. Rauf picked four wickets, Abbas Afridi three, and Sufiyan two. After today’s remarkable performance, Rauf has become joint leading wicket-taker of Pakistan in T20I. In a rain-hit T20I series opener, a dominant Australia secured victory by 29 runs after the bowlers sparked a Pakistan batting collapse at The Gabba on Thursday. The Men in Green only managed to score 64/9 in pursuit of a daunting 94-run target in seven overs. Pakistan and Australia have competed 26 times in T20Is with the former having slightly better record, winning 13 fixtures, compared to the latter’s 12, while one match ended in no result. Total matches 26: Pakistan 13, Australia 12, No Result 1. The last five matches have consecutively been won by Australia though.
Playing XI
Pakistan: Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan (capt, wk), Sahibzada Farhan, Usman Khan, Salman Ali Agha, Irfan Khan, Abbas Afridi, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah, Sufiyan Muqeem
Australia: Jake Fraser-McGurk, Matt Short, Josh Inglis (capt, wk), Glenn Maxwell, Tim David, Marcus Stoinis, Aaron Hardie, Xavier Bartlett, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa, Spencer Johnson
