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Saim Ayub and Babar Azam scored half-centuries on Sunday as Pakistan posted 207 runs against Australia — the Green Shirts’ highest total against the visitors in a T20 game — during the final contest of a three-match series between the two sides at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium.
With a target of 208 runs, Australian will have to play at a required run rate of 10.35 runs per over.
Winning the toss and opting to bat first, Pakistan decided to replace Sahibzada Farhaan with Fakhar Zaman, who opened with Saim Ayub. Farhaan was dismissed in the first match of the series without scoring any runs and had managed to score just five runs in the second game.
In today’s match, Saim scored 56 runs. He shared a 69-run partnership with Babar Azam, who remained unbeaten on 50.
All-rounder Shadab Khan played a searing 46-run knock for Pakistan on just 19 deliveries, smashing five gigantic sixes.
Pakistan skipper Salman Agha, who scored 76 runs in the previous match, flopped today and scored just five runs.
At the end of the innings, Pakistan posted 207 runs at the loss of six wickets.
For Australia, bowler Cooper Connolly conceded 47 runs in four overs and took a single wicket while Ben Dwarshuis grabbed two wickets.
The Green Shirts have already clinched the T20 series after their win in the second match on Saturday, when a 90-run thrashing of the visitors gave them an unassailable 2-0 lead.
Skipper Salman Agha hit his highest score in the shortest format before Pakistan’s spinners routed Australia by 90 runs.
The result underlined Pakistan’s growing dominance over Australia in the shortest format.
On Thursday, in the opening match of the series, the Green Shirts achieved their first T20I victory against Australia in more than seven years. Saim Ayub gave an outstanding all-round performance, taking two wickets after a blistering 40-run knock.
The two teams played a three-match Test and an ODI series in March-April 2022, followed by a solitary T20I where they bagged a close three-wicket win at Gaddafi Stadium.
Australia also played three of their 2025 Champions Trophy matches in Pakistan.
Teams
Pakistan: Salman Ali Agha (captain), Saim Ayub, Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam, Khawaja Nafay, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah and Abrar Ahmed.
Australia: Mitchell Marsh (captain), Matt Short, Cameron Green, Matt Renshaw, Marcus Stoinis, Josh Phillipe, Mitchell Owen, Cooper Connolly, Ben Dwarshuis, Matthew Kuhnemann and Adam Zampa.
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