New Delhi:
Babar Azam’s third consecutive fifty and Shadab Khan’s 3/19 helped Pakistan whitewash Australia 3-0 in the Twenty20 internationals with a convincing 33-run win in the final match at Dubai on Sunday.
This was Pakistan’s 10th consecutive bilateral Twenty20 series win and it was their fourth 3-0 whitewash in this period, having achieved the feat twice against two-time World T20 champions West Indies and against Sri Lanka.
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Opting to bat, Azam along with his new partner Sahibzada Farman laid a solid foundation which gave Pakistan a great start. Farman got going with two fours and three sixes while Azam looked in sublime touch. The 93-run opening stand boosted Pakistan with Azam reaching his third consecutive fifty. However, Nathan Lyon struck by removing Farman for 39 and Andrew Tye got the big wicket of Azam for 50.
However, Mohammad Hafeez held firm with some crucial runs in the death overs as Pakistan reached 150/5.
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In response, the Australian innings struggled for momentum and never really got going. Things started to look up for the visitors when Chris Lynn and Ben McDermott strung a 36-run stand for the third wicket but Shadab, bowling his legbreaks accurately, accounted for Lynn, Glenn Maxwell (4) and Mitchell Marsh (21) in a sensational middle overs spell.
In addition to Shadab, Hasan Ali and the rest of the bowlers continued the good work to bowl Australia out for 117 and end their tour on a poor note, having not won a single international game in the entire series.
Pakistan will now travel to South Africa for the next series while Australia will take on the Proteas for three ODIs and a single Twenty20 international beginning in November.
