cricket:image:1460174 [900x506]
cricket:image:1460174 [900x506] (Credit: Getty Images)

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Australia 118 for 3 (Stoinis 61*, Inglis 27, Afridi 1-14) beat Pakistan 117 all out (Babar 41, Hardie 3-21, Zampa 2-11) by 7 wickets

Australia signed off their T20I series against Pakistan as they played the rest of it: with a decisive seven-wicket win that also sealed the series 3-0. Pakistan limped to 117 before being bowled out in 18.1 overs, losing their last nine wickets for 56 runs. Adam Zampa ran rings around them after the Powerplay, his 2-11 in four overs the catalyst for their collapse. Babar Azam - who top-scored with 41 off 28, had led Pakistan to a good position in the first six overs; by that time, the visitors sat relatively pretty at 58 for 1.

Marcus Stoinis put any jeopardy out of the contest in the chase when he smashed Haris Rauf for 22 in an over. His 27-ball 61 meant Australia got to the target with almost nine overs to spare after Pakistan had made a respectable start in their attempt to defend a below-par target. Jake Fraser-McGurk and Matthew Short fell early, while Jahandad Khan's variations made life tricky for Australia in the powerplay. But, as Stoinis later guaranteed, the visitors were merely delaying the inevitable.

Pakistan's bright start

Pakistan came out with clear intent after they had shown precious little of it when trying to chase Australia down in the previous game. Sahibzada Farhan fell early, but what Pakistan were trying to do was obvious: take advantage of the Powerplay. Even Babar, usually a slow starter, found the boundary off the first ball and carried on in that vein. Haseebullah Khan was riding his luck somewhat, his edges finding the boundary, but that, too, was a product of flashing hard. The upshot was Pakistan racing to 58 - their highest powerplay score in an innings against Australia.

Zampa's sorcery

Zampa's impeccable control and skill makes him little short of a sorcerer in this format. For Pakistan, today, he was also their torturer - toying with batters at will as he varied pace, line, and variations, keeping batters second-guessing all the time.

It took him just five balls before he saw to it that Haseebullah's luck ran out, the flash outside off stump finding short third. In his third over, he put an end to Babar's entertaining knock, adjusting the flight of his delivery as he saw the batter running down the wicket, and cleaning up his stumps.

Even when he wasn't taking wickets, he was piling on the pressure at the other end. Pakistan's stand-in captain Salman Ali Agha played out five dot balls against him before he was put out of his misery by Aaron Hardie in the following over, and his figures of 4-0-11-2 didn't remotely flatter him.

Pakistan's balance

It's difficult to expect the batters to play high-risk cricket when you simply don't have enough batters. Pakistan had clearly briefed the team they expected aggression from the outset, even from players to whom it doesn't come naturally. Usman Khan tends to take a few balls before being able to launch, but he came out from ball one looking to slog - even when the shot was never on. It never looked sustainable, as was demonstrated when he holed out off his fourth delivery, triggering a Pakistan collapse.

Every fall of wicket was made all the more concerning for the visitors because of the extreme length of their tail; they effectively ran out of batters when the fifth wicket fell, with Abbas Afridi coming out at No. 7. It proved a problem for them in the second game, too, and remains an issue they need to find a way to resolve.

Australia get on top of Haris - finally

A running theme in this series is Haris Rauf coming out and dominating whichever Australian batter he finds at the other end. This has been especially true of Glenn Maxwell, but Stoinis said post-match he told Haris this was the only time "one of us" got Haris' number.

And Stoinis did so in enthralling fashion. At the end of the eighth over, Australia were 57 for 2, and Pakistan still believed they had time to insert jeopardy into the game. But the ninth over saw him clobber Haris for two fours and two sixes off the first four balls, with the final six flying out of the Bellerive Oval altogether. It began a passage of play that saw Stoinis plunder 45 off his next 12 deliveries, including a 25-run over off Shaheen Afridi. The following over, Abbas had Stoinis caught at deep square leg but had overstepped. Sixty-one runs came off the final 21 balls to draw curtains to the match and the series.