Twitter Reactions: Pakistan survive Glenn Maxwell scare to seal the T20I series
The action went down to the last over but the young Shaheen Afridi kept his nerves to deny Australia a victory.
Pakistan have sealed the three-match T20 International series against Australia by winning the thrilling second match by 11 runs. Chasing the 148-run target, the visitors came ever so close to the victory thanks to Glenn Maxwell and Nathan Coulter-Nile. But an exceptional last over from Shaheen Afridi kept them winless on the tour so far and the Men in Green once again proved their number 1 ranking in the shortest format.
Australia’s top order once again crumbled today. While D’Arcy Short was run out after a mix-up with the skipper Aaron Finch, the latter also gave away his wicket after wasting too many deliveries. Even Chris Lynn failed to get hold of the conditions and was snaffled by Imad Wasim. At 31/3 in the seventh over, things looked bleak for them. But the 30-run partnership between Maxwell and Mitchell Marsh kept them in the hunt.
However, yet another mini-collapse reduced them to 73/6 in no time which ended the contest. But Maxwell was fighting valiantly from the other end, Coulter-Nile supported him well. They took the game and brought the equation down to 23 off the last over. Coulter-Nile made it even more interesting by hitting a maximum off the first ball of the 20th over. But Maxwell was dismissed with 16 needed off four balls and soon the fast bowler also followed as Pakistan sealed the game and series.
Azam and Hafeez lead the way
Earlier in the game, Pakistan won the toss and opted to bat first. Coulter-Nile picked Fakhar Zaman’s wicket early and it was once again the partnership between Babar Azam and Mohammad Hafeez which helped them gain the early advantage. The duo added 70 runs in close to 10 overs to set the platform for the upcoming batsmen.
But Australia once again bowled superbly at the death and the hosts bottled the hard work done by the top-order. Coulter-Nile ended up picking three wickets for just 18 runs while Short also kept things quite in his three-over spell. Pakistan eventually could only post 147 runs for the loss of six wickets.
However, Australia struggles with the bat on the tour continued and despite Maxwell’s heroic 52-run knock, they failed to get over the line.
Here’s how Twitter reacted during the course of the game:
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