Thanks to the centuries of Pakistani captain Babar Azam and opening batsman Imam-ul-Haq, the national team achieved a record target in ODI cricket and defeated Australia by 6 wickets. The series ended in a 1-1 draw with the final match to be played on April 2.
In this match played at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, in pursuit of the target given by Australia, the national batsmen fought hard against the Australian bowling line.
First Fakhr Zaman and Imam-ul-Haq, then Imam-ul-Haq and Captain Babar Azam formed Century Partnerships. Imam-ul-Haq and Babar Azam commemorated this historic victory with their individual centuries and both scored 106 and 114 runs respectively.
Opening batsman Fakhr Zaman contributed 67 runs while Mohammad Rizwan contributed 23 runs, Khushdal Shah 27 runs and Iftikhar Ahmed 11 runs.
The national team scored 349 runs on the last ball of the 49th over.
National team captain Babar Azam was also declared the best player of the match for playing record-breaking innings.
For the Kangaroos, Adam Zampa took two wickets while Nathan Ellis and Marcus Stevens took one wicket each. ICC rankings, Imam-ul-Haq included in the top 10 batsmen.
Earlier, Australia had scored 348 runs for the loss of 8 wickets in the stipulated 50 overs.
In this match too, Pakistan had decided to field first after winning the toss against Australia. Fast bowler Shaheen Afridi returned captain Aaron Finch to the pavilion at zero, but the other players brought the team closer to three and a half hundred.
A 162-run partnership between Centurion Travis Head and Ben McDermott in the last match saved the national bowlers’ sixes.
Head was dismissed for 89, but this time Ben McDermott completed his century with an innings of 104 runs. Among the other players of the visiting team, Marinus Labushin (59), Marcus Stevens (49) and Sean Abbott (28) contributed to the team’s total.
Adam Zampa openly praised Babar Azam National team fast bowler Shaheen Afridi stood out with 4 wickets, among other bowlers Muhammad Wasim took 2 wickets while Zahid Mahmood and Khushdal Shah took one wicket each.
Keep in mind that in this match, the national team has achieved a record target in ODIs.
Earlier, Pakistan’s biggest target was 327, which it achieved in the Asia Cup match against Bangladesh.
Shahid Afridi was declared the best player of this memorable match.
A change was made in the Pakistan team for the second ODI, Shaheen Afridi was added in place of Hassan Ali.
On the occasion of the toss, captain Babar Azam said that the pitch is looking good, there will be a Dave factor in the last moments of the match.
The Pakistan team also included Fakhr Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam, Muhammad Rizwan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdal Shah, Saud Shakeel, Shaheen Afridi, Zahid Mahmood, Wasim Jr. and Haris Rauf.
The Australian team consisted of Erin Finch, Travis Head, Ben McDermott, Marin Lubushin, Max Stevens, Cameron Green, Alex Carey, Sean Abbott, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa and Mitchell Swapson.