Watch cricket video highlights of Pakistan tour of Australia 2024. Second Twenty/20 between Australia and Pakistan. Venue of the match will be Sydney.
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It changed from what appeared to be a run-fest to a low-scoring thriller. Australia reacted better than Pakistan in a T20I series that was changing in form. They managed to keep their composure and defend a modest score of 147, winning by 13 runs. In a disciplined bowling performance, Spencer Johnson was the star of the show with 5 for 26, taking wickets at the top and the end and keeping Pakistan confined. However, he had plenty of help from his teammates.
Six hitters scored in double figures throughout the first innings, which was equaled by the cluster of cameos that made sure the batters gave their bowlers something to work with. When Australia reached 50 in 3.1 overs, the fastest they had ever achieved the mark in a Twenty20 International, Pakistan appeared to be headed for a crushing defeat. However, Pakistan retaliated in the middle overs, predictably led by Haris Rauf. But in a game of narrow margins, their fielding errors proved to be costly and one of the areas where the teams differed.
They will also regret not being more intentional with the bat early on. Pakistan left themselves with too much work to do at the conclusion of the innings after limping through the first half. Irfan Khan and Usman Khan, who struck his first T20I half-century, gave it their all to get within 13 runs of winning, but they were unable to reverse the damage caused by the first half of the innings. Australia ended up as deserving champions because they made sure to do just enough things better than Pakistan.
Australia looked as though they had taken a cue from India’s batting display against South Africa on Friday when they started the match. As if feeding a slot machine, Shaheen Afridi was bowling into the arc, and Jake Fraser-McGurk and Matthew Short were more than eager to comply. Similarly, Naseem Shah was unable to keep it out of the arc, and Australia quickly reached 47 after 15 balls, hitting five fours and three sixes. When in doubt, give the ball to Rauf, as Pakistan learned on the white-ball tour, and it worked like a charm once more.
The only individual who could stop the slide was him, and he did it quickly. Before a leading edge set Josh Inglis on his way, Australia was pierced by a fast bouncer that Fraser-McGurk was unable to get on top of and slogged to the cover fielder. After Abbas Afridi, who bowled brilliantly throughout the innings, hit Short with the slower ball, the match abruptly became evenly matched. With Australia’s top three returning, just 14 runs were scored in the next 21 deliveries of the powerplay after the opening 15 had yielded 47 wicketless runs.
Every game, Pakistan seems to crank up the ante on one of their most well-known traits. Sometimes it’s the rapid bowling, and other times it’s the unpredictable nature. They went for their comedic incompetence in the field they have become known for today. Naseem’s disastrous Fraser-McGurk top edge in the first over was the first indication that anything was amiss, and things only got worse from there. In the eighth over, Shaheen relieved Glenn Maxwell off Sufiyan Muqeem, while Salman Agha dismissed Marcus Stoinis off Rauf.
Babar Azam knocked Tim David down before the batsman scored 10 runs off the following three balls, and Rauf made a clumsy attempt in the field off Naseem that went for four. It all mattered in a low-scoring game, and those were just the highlights. Pakistan may have realized that “this won’t happen to us” after witnessing how Australia had been pulled back. They never started at the front end of the innings in the first place, therefore it didn’t.
Sahibzada Farhan (pull straight to deep midwicket) and Babar (pick-up flick to deep square leg) were lost to reckless shots, but throughout the most of the opening nine overs, there were hardly any efforts to score a boundary. During a particularly odd innings, Mohammad Rizwan either pushed the ball away for singles or was content with dot balls. Only in the tenth over did Rizwan free his front leg and slog swept Johnson over cow corner to bring up four, marking the first time a boundary was hit off the bat.
The following ball, however, Rizwan tried the identical stroke but miscued it, allowing David to dive forward and make an incredible grab. At this point, the asking rate was close to 10, and Pakistan’s top order had unreasonably expected their lower order to honor checks they had issued. Any comparisons with the other Johnson, Mitchell, would have only applied to the period of his career that gave rise to the regrettable “he bowls to the left, he bowls to the right” chant.
This was after Johnson started the innings with a wide down leg side that went for five and followed it up with a wide outside off that would have done the same had the first slip not been executed brilliantly. However, the South Australian quickly turned his luck around, masterfully managing his fast speed and taking advantage of sideways movement to tear through Pakistan. Farhan’s gentle removal was just the start; Pakistan suffered a setback in the middle overs, which was significant.
Salman went the very next ball after Rizwan fell during Johnson’s comeback stint, putting Pakistan’s incredibly lengthy tail only one wicket away from being exposed. Johnson took two more runs in an over when his additional pace caused Usman to smear a pull into the air, and Abbas was also dismissed in a similar manner after Usman and Irfan set up a 58-run partnership. In spite of Irfan’s presence, it enabled Adam Zampa’s double-wicket over to successfully end the match.
