Fakhar Zaman’s majestic 46-ball 91 and Shoaib Malik’s unbeaten 37-ball 43 led Pakistan to an emphatic five-wicket victory in the final of the Twenty20 International tri-series at the Harare Sports Club on Sunday 8 July.
>>Glenn Maxwell, Travis Head lead Australia to victory<<
Chasing 184 runs for victory after Australia won the toss and notched up a challenging total of 183/8, Pakistan got home with five balls to spare and completed their highest run-chase in a T20I.
Pakistan were in some early trouble when Glenn Maxwell dismissed debutant Sahibzada Farhan and Hussain Talat in the first over of the innings and reduced them to 2/2.
However, their man in form, Zaman, and captain Sarfraz Ahmed led a counter-attack by collecting 21 runs off Maxwell’s next over, the third of the innings. They subsequently added 45 runs for the third wicket before Ahmed was run out in the last over of the Powerplay, with the score 47/3.
That brought Malik to the crease and he combined with Zaman to take the attack to Australia and added 107 runs for the fourth wicket. Zaman was particularly brutal on Ashton Agar as he hit two fours and a six off the bowler’s first over, the 12th over of the innings that went for 17 runs. The six also brought up Zaman’s third half-century of the series, off just 30 balls.
The Zaman show extended into the next over, when he took Andrew Tye, Australia’s most successful bowler in the series, for two consecutive boundaries, one of them a fierce pull shot over square leg. Malik made it 14 off that over and 31 in the space of two overs.
This Zaman-Malik blitz also brought the required run-rate down from 9 runs per over in the 12th to 7.20 at the end of the 15th, leaving Pakistan a modest 36 runs to score off the last five. Zaman eventually fell in the 16th after hitting 12 fours and three sixes, but the game was set by then. Malik combined with Asif Ali to add 33* for the fifth wicket and take Pakistan home.
When Australia batted, Aaron Finch signalled a welcome return to run-scoring ways but was upstaged by D’Arcy Short as they posted a big total.
Finch was quicker than his partner in scoring 47 in a first-wicket stand of 95, his runs coming off 27 balls, before becoming the first man out. Short had scored 43 in 32 balls in the partnership, before his captain departed in the 10th over after smacking two fours and three sixes, caught at cover after flaying at a Shadab Khan leg-spinner.
One wicket brought more for Pakistan. Maxwell went for a run-a-ball 5, Shadab (2/38) getting his second wicket. Marcus Stoinis then fell for a 10-ball 12, caught off Mohammad Amir.
Short, who had picked up speed by then and comfortably dominated the 37-run stand with Stoinis, was next to go for 76 off 53 balls with seven fours and four sixes.
Pakistan had clawed back from a poor start, but at 148/4 in 16.2 overs, Australia were on the back foot after the rush of wickets.
Travis Head (19 in 11 balls) provided a bit of impetus towards the end, but with Amir (3/33) and the other bowlers striking regularly, Australia couldn’t quite get away to the sort of score they would have liked.
