HOBART, Australia (AP) — Marcus Stoinis bludgeoned 61 not out off 27 balls and Australia swept Pakistan 3-0 in the Twenty20 series with a seven-wicket victory on Monday.
Stoinis smacked five sixes – three in one over off Shaheen Shah Afridi — and five fours as Australia raced to 118-3 in 11.2 overs. Fast bowlers Shah Afridi (1-43) and Haris Rauf (0-34) conceded 77 runs off their combined six overs.
Earlier, Pakistan lost nine wickets for 56 runs on the way to a meagre total of 117 in 18.1 overs despite Babar Azam (41) and Haseebullah Khan (24), one of two changes made from the second game, scoring at a brisk pace in the powerplay.
“It’s been a great week,” Australia captain Josh Inglis said. “We’ve had a lot of fun as a group. When Stoinis is going like that, he is really hard to stop.”
Haseebullah replaced regular white-ball captain Mohammad Rizwan and Salman Ali Agha took over as Pakistan’s fourth T20 skipper in 2024. Left-arm fast bowler Jahandad Khan was preferred to Naseem Shah.
Leg-spinner Adam Zampa (2-11) ignited Pakistan’s slide when he had Haseebullah caught at short fine leg. He then clean bowled Babar with a sharp googly.
Babar surpassed Virat Kohli’s Indian tally of 4,188 runs in T20s and moved up to second place with 4,192 in 126 games. Rohit Sharma leads the way with 4,231 in 159 matches.
Aaron Hardie (3-21) removed Sydney Usman Khan when he holed out at deep cover for three, while Salman played across the line against the fast bowler and was out leg before.
Shah Afridi smashed two fours and a six in his quickfire 16 and helped Pakistan cross the 100-run mark. Australia’s player of the series Johnson (2-24) wrapped up the innings by clean bowling No. 11 Sufiyan Muqeem.
Australia openers Jake Fraser-McGurk (18) and Matthew Short (2) fell inside the batting powerplay before Inglis (27) and Stoinis hurried the run chase.
Inglis couldn’t clear short fine leg as he tried to scoop Abbas Afridi in the 10th over before Stoinis hit three sixes and a four in Shah Afridi’s one over to complete the win.
Pakistan won the preceding ODI series 2-1 but its struggle in T20s continued. It was knocked out in the group stage of the World Cup in June.
“It’s obviously a big achievement winning the ODI series but we could have done much better in the T20s,” Salman said. “I think in the middle overs, we didn’t capitalize on the start.”
The hosts had a 29-run win in a rain-shortened seven-overs-a-side match in the first T20 in Brisbane, before fast bowler Spencer Johnson then grabbed a career-best 5-26 to propel Australia to a 13-run win.
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AP cricket:
What learnings did the Pakistan team take away from the series to improve their T20 performance in future contests?
As the editor of world-today-news.com, I am thrilled to present an exclusive interview with two esteemed guests, Australian captain Josh Inglis and Pakistan’s stand-in T20 skipper Salman Agha, about their recent T20 series.
Josh Inglis: Hello, thank you for joining me today. How does it feel to win the T20 series against Pakistan with a dominant performance in the final match? And how has the team’s journey been so far this year?
Salman Agha: Hello Josh, it was a tough series for us. We started really well in the first T20, but our struggles in T20 cricket continue. We had a slow middle overs in this game that cost us the match. it has been a learning experience for us, and we will look to improve in the future.
Josh Inglis: Absolutely, we are also looking to improve and build on our success. Marcus Stoinis played an exceptional innings in the final match. Can you tell us about his approach to batting and how he manages to keep calm under pressure situations?
Salman Agha: Marcus Stoinis is a world-class T20 player. His power-hitting and ability to keep things simple under pressure is unmatched. He has worked really hard on his game and it shows in his performances. We have seen him contribute with both bat and ball throughout the series.
Josh Inglis: I completely agree with you. Marcus is a match-winner, and his innings set up the platform for our win in the final match. Talking about the bowling, Adam Zampa and Aaron Hardie had a fantastic series. What do you think are the key aspects of their bowling that made them successful against Pakistan?
Salman Agha: Both Zampa and Hardie bowled well in the series. They maintained their lines and lengths consistently, which made it difficult for our batsmen to score runs freely. Additionally, they varied their pace and used the conditions to their advantage. Zampa’s wicket-taking ability is also crucial in T20 cricket, as we saw in the series.
Josh Inglis: Yes, we are fortunate to have two quality spinners in our side. Moving on to the batting,
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