AUS vs PAK | Aaron Hardie’s three-fer and Marcus Stoinis’ run carnage demolish Pakistan as Australia clean sweep the series

Debayan Sinha

ByDebayan Sinha, SportsCafe Editor

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Australia defeated Pakistan by seven wickets to complete a 3-0 series clean sweep at Hobart. Babar Azam top-scored for Pakistan with 41 off 28, but Aaron Hardie's three-wicket haul restricted them to just 117 runs while Marcus Stoinis’ 61 off 27 guided Australia to a series win.

‌An overcast evening in Hobart hosted the dead rubber third and final T20I between Australia and Pakistan. With Mohammed Rizwan rested, Salman Agha captained Pakistan and won the toss, opting to bat first. Babar Azam and Sahibzada Farhan opened the innings, but Farhan was dismissed early by Spencer Johnson. Despite the setback, Babar and Haseebullah Khan scored 58/1 at the end of the powerplay, before Khan fell to Adam Zampa in the seventh over. Usman Khan continued his poor form, dismissed by Aaron Hardie, and skipper Salman made just one run before departing. Zampa ended Babar's promising knock of 41, and the wickets continued to fall, with Irfan Khan run out in the 14th over and Abbas Afridi dismissed by Hardie. Shaheen Afridi and Jahandad Khan added a brief 24-run stand, but Pakistan was ultimately all out for 117, as the Australian bowlers dominated with precision.

 

In response, Australia got off to a strong start, with openers Jake Fraser-McGurk and Matthew Short taking the score to 16/0 in two overs. However, Shaheen Afridi struck in the third over, dismissing Short, and debutant Jahandad Khan followed up by removing Fraser-McGurk, leaving Australia at 31/2 after four overs. Marcus Stoinis and Josh Inglis then launched a counterattack, racing the score to 79/2 at the end of the ninth over, with just 33 needed off 61 balls. Thereafter,  Abbas broke the 55-run partnership by dismissing Stoinis in the 10th over, but Stoinis had already played a crucial knock of 61 off 27 balls, and he saw Australia home with the winning runs, leading them to a seven-wicket victory.

Hope

Big loss

Whitewashed

Exposed

One more

Shoutout

Yup

Noice

Six

 

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