Pakistan beat Australia by six wickets to level series

Visitors achieved the target in the 48th over


Abdul Majid January 15, 2017
Sharjeel was accounted for by Faulkner. PHOTO: AFP

Veteran all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez led from the front in his first captain in charge in the 50-over format as Pakistan defeated Australia by six wickets at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Sunday to level the series 1-1.

Earlier, Australian captain Steven Smith won the toss and opted to bat first, but his decision backfired courtesy sublime bowling performance from Junaid Khan and Mohammad Amir, as Kangaroos lost first three wickets for just 41 runs.

The visitors kept picking wickets at regular intervals and bowled the opposition out for just 220 in the 49th over.

Captain Smith finished with the top score of 60 off 101, whereas wicketkeeper batsman Mathew Wade scored 35 off 56 balls.

For Pakistan, Amir claimed three, whereas Junaid and all-rounder Imad Wasim picked two wickets each.

Chasing 221, the Men in Green had an ideal start as stand-in captain Hafeez along with Sharjeel (29) added 68 runs for the first wicket.

Once the left-handed opener got out, skipper then joined young Babar Azam (34) to add another 72 for the second wicket to take Pakistan closer to the victory.

However, the visitors lost Hafeez and Babar in quick succession, but veteran all-rounder Shoaib Malik stood up for the side and took Pakistan over the line in the 48th over.

Hafeez finisehd the innings with the top score of 72 off 104 which included eight boundaries, whereas Malik remained not out on 42 off just 52 balls which included five fours and one glorious six down the ground.

Hafeez for his outstanding captaincy and brilliant batting performance was awarded man of the match.

Presentation: 

Steve Smith: We went a bit too hard with the bat again. We were ordinary with the bat once again which let us down. We couldn’t play our natural game when the spinners came on, because we lost too many wickets too early. We had a bit of belief and we tried as hard as we can. We were 40 runs short but bowlers did a pretty good job. Hopefully in Perth we can have a nice bouncy pitch.

Mohammad Hafeez: Boys did a great job. We wanted to restrict them to a total which we can defend. Bowlers did a brilliant job, Junaid Khan, Mohammad Amir and all of them picked up wickets at crucial stage. Shoaib Malik had a brilliant game, first with the ball and then while chasing, we needed an experience player and he finished the game for us.



Over 48: PAK 221-4

And that's it. Pakistan win by six wicket. What an incredible achievement by team Pakistan, who is suffering from injuries.

Travis Head to continue.



Over 47: PAK 212-4

Just one off the over.

James Faulkner to start his ninth over.



Over 46: PAK 211-4

Just three off the over.

Surprise surprise! Travis Head replaces Mitchell Marsh.



Over 45: PAK 208-4

Five off the over. 13 off 30 needed for Pakistan to achieve a famous victory at MCG.



James Faulkner to replace Starc.



Over 44: PAK 203-4

Eight run off the over and now Pakistan need to 18 off 36 balls.



Mitchell Marsh to continue.



Another failure for Asad Shafiq as he continue to struggle in the 50-over format.



Over 43: PAK 195-4

Just four and a wicket off Starc's last over of the day.



Mitchell Starc to continue.



Over 42: PAK 191-3

Four off the over.

Mitchell Marsh to continue.

Over 41: PAK 187-3

Just four off the over.

Mitchell Starc to start his new over.



Over 40: PAK 183-3

Eight off the over with two sublime boundaries from Shoaib Malik. Pakistan need 38 off 60. This should be walk in the park for The Men in Green.





Mitchell Marsh to replace Cummins to continue.



Over 39: PAK 175-3

Just two off the over.

Josh Hazlewood to continue.



Over 38: PAK 173-3



Cummins.



Over 37: PAK 166-3



Hazlewood.



Over 36: PAK 159-3





Cummins.

Over 35: PAK 152-3

Hazlewood.

Over 34: PAK 151-3

Five off the over courtesy a boundary by Malik.

Cummins.

Over 33: PAK 146-3

Four runs.

Starc.



Over 32: PAK 142-3



Faulkner.



Over 31: PAK 140-2

Asad Shafiq is the new batsman to join Hafeez.

 



Starc.

Over 30: PAK 135-1

Five off the over.

Faulkner.



Over 29: PAK 130-1





Starc.



Over 28: PAK 116-1

Five off the over.



Faulkner.

Over 27: PAK 111-1

Two off the over.

Starc.



Over 26: PAK 109-1



Eight runs off Cummins' over.



Over 25: PAK 101-1



Starc.

Over 24: PAK 97-1

Five off Cummin's over.

Over 23: PAK 92-1

Five off Hazlewood's over.

Over 22: PAK 87-1

Cummins gives only a single.



Over 21: PAK 86-1

Hazlewood bowls a maiden.



Over 20: PAK 86-1

Four runs off the over.

Mitch Marsh.



Over 19: PAK 82-1

Hazlewood is back. Only one off his over.



Over 18: PAK 81-1

Eight runs off the over courtesy boundary by Babar Azam.

Marsh.



Over 17: PAK 73-1



Faulkner.



Over 16: PAK 69-1

Just a single from it.

Mitch Marsh now.



Over 15: PAK 68-1

First breakthrough for Australia



James Faulkner.



Over 14: PAK 64-0





Travis Head with some off-spin now.



Over 13: PAK 53-0



Cummins.

Over 12: PAK 47-0

Faulkner goes for six in the over.



Over 11: PAK 41-0

Five runs.



Cummins.



Over 10: PAK 36-0

Five off the over.

James Faulkner has been brought in to break Hafeez-Sharjeel partnership.

Over 9: PAK 31-0

Maiden it is.

Cummins.



Over 8: PAK 31-0

Seven runs off the over.



Hazlewood.



Over 7: PAK 24-0

Four runs from the over.



Pat Cummins introduced into the attack.

Over 6: PAK 20-0

It's a maiden.

Hazlewood now.



Over 5: PAK 20-0

Four runs from that over.

Starc in for his third.



Over 4: PAK 16-0





Hazlewood in for his second.



Over 3: PAK 8-0



Starc again.

Meanwhile, Waqar Younis wants Pakistan to do it today.





Over 2: PAK 1-0

 

Only one off his over.



Tormentor in Tests Josh Hazlewood is back.



Over 1: PAK 0-0

Starc bowls a maiden which could've been a wicket-maiden



Mitchell Starc has the new ball and Mohammad Hafeez is with Sharjeel Khan to open the chase.



Over 48.2: AUS 220 all out





Amir to bowl the penultimate over.



Over 48: AUS 216-9

Only four runs off the over.

Junaid Khan.



Over 47: AUS 212-9

Hazlewood is the last man in.



Amir.



Over 46: AUS 207-8





Junaid Khan is back for his second spell.



Over 45: AUS 205-7

Ends it with two wickets and 37 runs.

Imad Wasim in for his last over.



Over 44: AUS 201-7



Malik continues. Hafeez happy with spinners.



Over 43: AUS 196-6

Faulkner joins Wade.

Big wicket at an important point in the match!



Imad Wasim in for his ninth over.



Over 42: AUS 184-5

Five runs off the over.

Malik bowls one more.

Over 41: AUS 179-5

Three more added to the total.

Imad Wasim bowls his eighth over.

Over 40: AUS 176-5

Three from it.

Malik in for his second.



Over 39: AUS 173-5

Five runs off the over.





Hasan in for his seventh over.



Over 38: AUS 168-5

Only two off the over.



Shoaib Malik to bowl some part-time off-spin to find a wicket.

Over 37: AUS 166-5

Three off the over.

Hasan Ali rejoins the attack.



Over 36: AUS 163-5

No wickets and 45 runs given by the stand-in captain.

Hafeez in for his last over.



Over 35: AUS 161-5



Amir again.



Over 34: AUS 155-5



Hafeez.

Over 33: AUS 150-5

Four runs off the over.

Amir is back in the attack. He has four overs left.

Over 32: AUS 146-5

Six runs off the over.

Hafeez now with his aggressive field placements.

Over 31: AUS 140-5

Just one off the over.

Imad Wasim into his seventh over.

Over 30: AUS 139-5

Four off the over.

Hafeez again.



Over 29: AUS 135-5

Two off the over.



Imad.



Over 28: AUS 133-5

Hafeez goes for four.



Over 27: AUS 129-5

Last game's hero Matthew Wade joins the captain in the middle.



Imad Wasim.



Over 26: AUS 128-4

Five from it.

Hafeez.



Over 25: AUS 123-4

Four off the over.

Imad Wasim.



Over 24: AUS 119-4



Hafeez.



Over 23: AUS 110-4

Four from it.

Imad Wasim is back now.



Over 22: AUS 106-4

Only a single.

Hasan Ali.



Over 21: AUS 105-4





Hafeez.



Over 20: AUS 99-4

Four runs off the over.

Hasan Ali.



Over 19: AUS 95-4



Hafeez goes for five in his over.



Over 18: AUS 90-4



Gets pulled for a FOUR and makes a comeback with this delivery.



Hasan Ali.

Over 17: AUS 82-3

Only two off his over.

Captain Mohammad Hafeez has the ball now.



Over 16: AUS 80-3

Seven off the over.



Hasan Ali.

Over 15: AUS 73-3

Imad Wasim goes for three in his second over.

Over 14: AUS 70-3

Only two off his over.

Hasan Ali from the other end now.



Over 13: AUS 68-3

Four runs off his over.

First change in bowling as Imad Wasim comes on.



Over 12: AUS 64-3







Now Junaid with his sixth over on the trot.



Over 11: AUS 54-3



 

Amir bowls his sixth on the trot.

Over 10: AUS 49-3

Only four off the over.

MEANWHILE, Shoaib Akhtar is watching too!



Junaid Khan in for his fifth over.



Over 9: AUS 45-3



Amir again!



Over 8: AUS 40-2



Junaid now.



Over 7: AUS 32-1

 

Only one run off Amir's over.



Over 6: AUS 31-1

Junaid Khan gets the all-important wicket of David Warner.





Over 5: AUS 29-0

Nine runs off Amir's over.



Over 4: AUS 20-0

Only three off Junaid's over.



Over 3: AUS 17-0

Four runs off Amir's over.



Over 2: AUS 8-0

Eight runs off Junaid's over courtesy a boundary on the second ball by Warner.



Over 1: AUS 5-0

Five runs off the first over from Amir.

Usman Khawaja and David Warner to open for Australia.

COMMENTS (2)

Mohammed - - - Auckland | 7 years ago | Reply Alhumdulillah
Zaidi Iqbal Hadi | 7 years ago | Reply Smith is not just a batsman but captain and thus he has already scored 44 runs and still on the crease hints that if we cannot contain him he will go very much detrimental to our interests and then we cannot win the match, if at all there is any chance to win. Incidentally just look back at our captains what they did ad watch what Hafeez will do today. Iqbal Hadi Zaidi / Kuwait / zaidi4merdiplomat@hotmail.com
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