Pakistan beats Australia by four wickets to clinch ODI series 2-1

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LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistan overcame Australian spin challenge on a tricky wicket to win the third and final one-day international by four wickets and clinch the series 2-1 on Thursday.

Pakistan had to fight hard on a turning wicket to reach 161-6 in 41.5 overs after Australia had crashed to its lowest ODI total in Pakistan and got bowled out for 157 in 42 overs.

All-rounder Shadab Khan, who had earlier picked up 2-28, made unbeaten 29 while Abdul Samad was 18 not out to earn Pakistan its third successive ODI win in a bilateral series against Australia.

On pitches tailor-made for spinners, Australia won the second game by 41 runs at the same venue on Tuesday while Pakistan won the first match at Rawalpindi last week by five wickets.

“It was a complete team effort throughout the series,” said Pakistan captain Shaheen Shah Afridi, who took 3-30 and was splendid with both the new and old ball. “The conditions were tough for the batters, but every run counted and the players put in a great effort … all of our bowlers executed their plans well, and the credit goes to them.”

Left-arm spinner Matthew Kuhnemann (3-38) had pushed Australia’s bid when he clean bowled top-scorer Babar Azam for 40 in the 30th over and Pakistan slumped to 6-112.

Babar batted resolutely for 84 balls in nearly two hours and struck only three boundaries before he was undone by Kuhnemann’s brilliant delivery that spun away enough to hit the off stump.

But Shadab and Samad both showed plenty of patience on an abrasive pitch as Australia couldn’t get the breakthrough before Shadab smashed Adam Zampa to long-on boundary for winning runs.

“A bit like the first game, we were just too many runs short,” Australian captain Josh Inglis said referring to Australia getting bowed out for 200 in the first game. “I thought the bowlers and the fielding group, in particular, made a great effort to put us in a position to potentially win the game, but it wasn’t to be in the end.”

Australian middle-order crumbled against Afridi and leg-spin of Abrar Ahmed (2-19) despite Inglis scoring a gritty 65 off 71 balls after he had won the toss and opted to bat first.

Inglis’ second successive half century seemed to keep Australia on track for a challenging total but none of the other batters could score more than 19 as the visitors lost their last seven wickets for 38 runs.

Inglis replaced Alex Carey as opener for the first time in the series but Afridi made an early impact when he removed Matthew Short in the first over.

Inglis added 46 runs with Marnus Labuschagne (19), who struggled in the series and was run-out while trying to steal a second run. But Inglis and Carey shared a half-century stand and put Australia back on course before the middle-order got crumbled against pace and spin.

Fast bowler Haris Rauf ignited the collapse when he hit the top of Carey’s (19) middle stump in the 23rd over and then Afridi struck twice in one over with the old ball when he dismissed Inglis and Cameron Green in the 27th over. Inglis holed out at mid-on and Green was smartly held by Babar at short mid-wicket as he tried to flick Afridi but couldn’t keep the ball down.

Cooper Connolly, who replaced Tanveer Sangha for the series decider, lasted only 12 balls and scored 3 before he was bowled round his legs while going for a ramp shot against Abrar as Australian middle-order couldn’t come to terms with the slow wicket.

Shadab finally got amongst the wickets after being wicketless in his last five ODIs when he removed Oliver Peake and Zampa as Australia tail folded quickly when last man Nathan Ellis was run-out.

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AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket