Babar Azam’s Brilliant Century, Series in the Name of Pakistan
Pakistan won the series 1-2 by defeating Australia in the last match thanks to the brilliant century of captain Babar Azam and the responsible batting of Imam-ul-Haq.
In the match played at Gaddafi Stadium Lahore, Pakistan won the toss and elected to field first.
Batting first against Pakistan, the Australian team suffered severe difficulties from the start and could not face Haris
Rauf along with Shaheen Shah Afridi.
Shaheen Shah Afridi blew the wickets of Travis Head, who had batted brilliantly in previous matches, without allowing him to open his account.
From the other end, Harris Rauf ended the innings of captain Aaron Finch and Labushin, dropping 3 wickets for just 6 runs.
Stevens scored 19 runs to take the score to 59 but Zahid Mahmood ended his innings.
Alex Carey and Cameron Green took the team to 148, but Green was dismissed for 34.
Australia’s seventh wicket fell to Alex Carey who scored 56 runs. Shaun Abbott faced Pakistani bowlers but after scoring 49 runs, Iftikhar Ahmed was the target.
Other batsmen from the visiting team failed to make a significant impact.
Mohammad Wasim Jr. and Haris Rauf took 3.3 wickets each for Pakistan.
Shaheen Shah Afridi got two wickets, Zahid Mahmood and Iftikhar Ahmed got one wicket each.
In pursuit of the target, when Pakistan started batting, Fakhr Zaman scored 17 runs and was dismissed for 24.
Captain Babar Azam and Imam-ul-Haq formed an unbeaten partnership to lead the team to victory in the series as well as the match.
Pakistan won the match by 214 runs for the loss of one wicket in the 38th over.
Babar Azam scored his second consecutive century and scored 105 runs without getting out.
Imam-ul-Haq scored an unbeaten 89 runs.
Babar Azam was declared the best player of the match and the series.
Pakistan had earlier beaten Australia 1-2 in a three-match ODI series in 2002.
Earlier in the match being played at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, Pakistan captain Babar Azam decided to test the bowlers once again by winning the toss in the third match in a row.
Pakistan had made a change in the team for the decisive match, Saud Shakeel was replaced by Asif Ali in the final XI.
There was also a change in the Australian squad, with Jason Behrendroff replacing Mitchell Swapson.
It should be noted that the series between the two teams was tied at 1-1 and both the teams needed to win this match to win the series.
Both teams were composed of these players for the match.
Pakistan: Babar Azam (captain), Fakhr Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Rizwan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Asif Ali, Khushdal Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Wasim Jr., Haris Rauf and Zahid Mahmood.
Australia: Aaron Finch (captain), Travis Head, Ben McDermott, Marin Lubushin, Marcus Stevens, Cameron Green, Alex Carey, Sean Abbott, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa and Jason Behron Droff.