AUS vs PAK: Australia faced off against Pakistan in the second ODI of the three-match ODI series at the Adelaide Oval on Friday. Pakistan won the toss and opted to field first after having lost the first ODI at the MCG.
The decision was followed by a spectacular bowling performance from the Men in Green. They bowled out the Kangaroos for 163 runs in 35 overs. Haris Rauf was the star of the show as he bowled eight overs to scalp a five-wicket haul and give away just 29 runs.
Shaheen Shah Afridi complemented him beautifully by picking up three wickets. Naseem Shah and Hasnain picked up one wicket each.
Pakistan chased down the total in just 26.3 overs for the loss of one wicket. Saim Ayub scored 82 runs off 71 deliveries with five boundaries and six sixes. Abdullah Shafique remained not out for 64 runs off 69 deliveries, and Babar Azam remained not out on 15 runs off 20 deliveries.
During the course of the innings, Shafique played a beautiful shot, which was applauded by the bowler Josh Hazlewood himself. On the fifth delivery of the 10th over of the Pakistani innings, Hazlewood bowled full, and Shafique crunched it through wide mid-off with a lovely drive, which was met with applause from the fast bowler himself.
Muhammad Rizwan hails the Pakistan team’s performance in Adelaide
Pakistan captain Muhammad Rizwan spoke about their performance in the post-match presentation. He wants to take this confidence of a win to Perth in the series decider. Rizwan commended the performance of the bowlers, especially Haris Rauf.
Saim Ayub trusted his own abilities right from the start of the inning
Australia and Pakistan faced off against each other in the second ODI of the three-match ODI series in Adelaide. After losing the first ODI at the MCG, Pakistan made a solid comeback to win the second ODI in Adelaide. The bowlers were fantastic for the Men in Green as they restricted Australia to just 163 runs. In reply, they chased down the target in just 26.3 overs, with the opener, Saim Ayub, playing a gem of an innings.
He played some fantastic shots, but the best of the lot came in the 12th over of the Pakistan inning when he imitated a shot of Yuvraj Singh, which went for a six. Mitchell Starc bowled a length ball to Ayub, and he shuffled across the crease and flicked the length ball from Starc for a maximum over the fine-leg region. It was a shot reminiscent of the great Yuvraj. Ayub scored 82 runs off 71 deliveries with five boundaries and six sixes.
Coming to the game, Haris Rauf‘s five-wicket haul did not allow Australian batters to get a hold of the game. He was well complemented by Shaheen Afridi, who himself picked up three wickets.
At the end of the game, Ayub said that he wanted to be positive right from the start of the inning. He trusted himself and his abilities to go after the Australian bowling attack. Ayub also complemented his bowling unit and especially talked about the performance of Haris Rauf in this game.
