Pakistan vs Australia, 2nd ODI: Aaron Finch leads Australia to a crushing win with an unbeaten 153
Australia defeated Pakistan by eight wickets in the 2nd ODI played at Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Sunday. It was a dominating performance by the Aussies who outplayed Pakistan in all departments.
Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik won the toss and decided to bat first. The hosts got off to a poor start as they lost the wicket of Imam-ul-Haq in the first over. Shan Masood and Haris Sohail added 35 runs for the 2nd wicket before Jhye Richardson struck again dismissing Shan Masood for 19 runs.
Haris Sohail and Mohammad Rizwan steadied Pakistani innings with some lovely stroke play. At the end of 10 overs, Pakistan were 49 for 2. After the power play overs, both continued to play with positive intent.
Australian captain Aaron Finch dismissed Haris Sohail in the 18th over. Umar Akmal also fell cheaply for 16 runs. Mohammad Rizwan and Shoaib Malik steadied the innings with attacking stroke play. Rizwan reached his fifty off 60 balls while captain Malik took on the Australian bowlers and reached his fifty off 53 balls. Rizwan continued his aggressive approach and scored his maiden ODI century off 114 balls.
Malik and Rizwan added 127 runs for the fifth wicket. Shoaib Malik was dismissed for a well-made 60 while Rizwan got out for 115. Imad Wasim scored a quick fire 19 off 10 balls to help Pakistan post a modest total of 284 for 7 in 50 overs.
Chasing the target of 285 runs to win, Aaron Finch and Usman Khawaja got the team off to a good start with 48 runs on the board at end of 10 overs. Finch reached his fifty off 57 balls while Usman Khawaja completed his 50 off 60 balls. Finch made the batting look easy and showed his class.
Finch reached his 2nd successive century off 98 balls. Usman Khawaja was dismissed for a brilliant 88 runs. Finch and Khawaja added 209 runs for the opening wicket. Glenn Maxwell came to the crease and scored a quick-fire 19 off 15 balls. Aaron Finch remained not out on 153 off 143 balls to help Australia win the match by 8 wickets with 13 balls to spare.
Brief scores: Australia 285 for 2 in 47.5 overs (Aaron Finch 153*, Usman Khawaja 88, Yasir Shah 1/60) beat Pakistan 284 for 7 in 50 overs (Mohammad Rizwan 115, Shoaib Malik 60, Jhye Richardson 2/16, Nathan-Coulter Nile 2/52) by 8 wickets.