Pakistan’s Green Shirts gave an impressive performance on Saturday, pummeling Australia by 90 runs and winning the second T20I of a three-match series at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore, and rewrote the record books in the process.
After winning this toss and deciding to bat, Pakistan made in 20 overs to score a massive 198/5. The innings was anchored by the captain Salman Ali Agha and the wicketkeeper-batter Usman Khan who both made fluent half-centuries.
Agha led from the front with an impressive 76 off just 40 balls, with eight fours and four sixes. Usman gave good support, smashing 53 off 36 deliveries including six boundaries and two towering sixes.
Their aggressive performance fueled Pakistan to their highest-ever T20I total against Australia, surpassing the previous score of 194/7 in the tri-series held in Zimbabwe in 2018.
Chasing a daunting 199-run target, Australia’s batting line fell to relentless pressure from spin. A historic performance was registered by Pakistan’s spinners who took all the 10 wickets for the first time in the shortest format.
This was also the second instance in a T20I between two full member nations where spinners managed to get every dismissal. India was the first to achieve this against West Indies in 2022. Overall, it was the 10th such occurrence in the history of T20I.
Abrar Ahmed and Shadab Khan led the attack with 3 wickets each and Usman Tariq with 2. Saim Ayub and Mohammad Nawaz contributed one each when Australia were all out for 108 in 15.4 overs.
The emphatic 90-run victory is now Pakistan’s largest T20I win against Australia, eclipsing the 66-run smashing record earlier against them in the UAE in 2018.
Also read: Live updates: Pak vs Aus second T20I
