Twitter Reactions: A harakiri from Australia in what should've been an easy win

There were talks about Australia taking over the ICC number one T20I ranking from Pakistan before the three-match series begun. However, the performance from the Aussies in the first T20I suggests completely the opposite. The visitors have witnessed one of their worst defeats in recent times and this performance was quite embarrassing.

After doing so well to restrict Pakistan to a below-par total, the Australian team completely fumbled in the chase. A ‘harakiri’ would be the perfect word to describe what they have done to themselves. The Pakistan bowlers will have to be credited for the out of the blue show and helping their side win the match by 66 runs.

Australia make a terrific comeback in the first innings

Australia put Pakistan in to bat first in this encounter. Although Billy Stanlake dismissed Fakhar Zaman early in the innings for just 14 runs, Babar Azam and Mohammad Hafeez just kept hitting the bowlers all around the park. The score was 105/1 in the 14th over. With two settled batsmen in the middle and lot of power-hitters to come, it looked as if Pakistan was heading towards a huge total.

However, the bowlers applied the breaks to the scoring rates brilliantly. A flurry of wickets fell in between overs 14 and 18. The side was all of a sudden down to 133/8 after being in such a commanding position. Billy Stanlake and Andrew Tye accounted for three scalps each as the hosts ended at 155/8 in 20 overs after a late fight from Babar Azam and Hasan Ali. Azam was unbeaten on 68 off 55 deliveries.

The Aussies collapse like a pack of cards

While many thought that it would be an easy chase down for Australia, it wasn’t exactly to be the case. Among the top six batsmen, only Chris Lynn managed to cross 5 runs. He got out after scoring 14 off 15 deliveries. Aaron Finch, Ben McDermott were both dismissed for a duck. The side was reeling at 22/6 in the 6th over.

Australia was all set to witness one of the worst nightmares in its T20I cricket history. However, a fightback from the lower order helped them narrow down the losing margin. Ashton Agar crawled his way to 19 off 23 balls before Hasan Ali snapped him off. Then, Shaheen Afridi got the better of Adam Zampa and Andrew Tye in the same over. Ultimately, the side was bowled out for 89 runs as Coulter-Nile got out after scoring 34 off 29 deliveries.

The Australian team was heavily trolled for such a pathetic performance. Twitterati had no words to describe this terrific performance from Pakistan. Babar Azam and Imad Wasim were the centres of all the discussion.

Here is how Twitterati reacted: