AUS vs PAK 2024/25, AUS vs PAK 2nd T20I Match Report, 16 Nov 2024

Australia 147 for 9 (Short 32, Rauf 4-22, Abbas Afridi 3-17, Muqeem 2-21) batted Pakistan 134 (Usman 52, Irfan 37*, Johnson 5-26, Zampa 2-19) by 13 runs

It looked like it was going to be a run fest, but then it turned into a low-scoring thriller. In a shapeshifting T20I in Sydney, Australia adapted better than Pakistan and held their nerve to defend a modest total of 147 and cruise to a 13-run win, clinching the T20I series.

Spencer Johnson was the star of the show with 5 for 26, taking wickets at the top and end and keeping Pakistan in, but he had plenty of support from his mates in a disciplined bowling effort. That was matched by a first innings in which six batters reached double figures, with the flurry of cameos ensuring the batters gave their bowlers plenty to work with.

Pakistan looked like they were headed for a knock as Australia reached 50 in 3.1 overs – the fastest they have ever reached the mark in a T20I. But Pakistan, inevitably led by Haris Rauf, hit back through the middle overs. However, their fielding interruptions proved costly and in a game of fine margins it proved to be one of the differences between the sides.

They will also rue their lack of intent early with the bat. Pakistan limped along in the first half of the innings and left themselves too much to do at the back end. Usman Khan – who scored his maiden T20I half-century – and Irfan Khan made a fist of coming within 13 runs of victory but just couldn’t do enough to undo the damage from the first part of the innings.

Australia made sure they did just enough things better than Pakistan and thus ended up worthy winners.

The flight and the uncontrolled descent

Australia began the match as if they had taken inspiration from India’s batting display against South Africa on Friday. Shaheen Afridi bowled into the crease like she was feeding a slot machine and Matthew Short and Jake Fraser-McGurk were only too happy to oblige. Naseem Shah similarly failed to keep it out of the arc and 15 balls into the game, Australia had cruised to 47, having hit five fours and three sixes.

As Pakistan have learned during the white ball tour, give Rauf the ball when in doubt and it worked the charm again. He was the only man who could stop the slide, and it didn’t take him long. A quick bouncer that Fraser-McGurk couldn’t get on top of and edged to cover bowler punctured Australia before an edge sent Josh Inglis on his way.

Abbas Afridi – who bowled beautifully in all innings – struck with the slower ball to dispatch Short and suddenly it was an even contest. After the first 15 balls of the powerplay had leaked 47 wicketless runs, only 14 were scored in the last 21 balls, with Australia’s top three remaining.

Pakistan sloppy in the field again

Pakistan tend to take one of their most famous characteristics in every game and turn the dial up to 11. Sometimes it’s the unpredictability, other times it’s fast bowling. Today they went for the comic ineptitude in the field for which they have gained a reputation.

The warning signs were there from the first over which was when Naseem made a mess of a Fraser-McGurk top edge and it only got worse from there.

Salman Agha dropped Marcus Stoinis off Rauf while Shaheen dismissed Glenn Maxwell off Sufiyan Muqeem in the eighth over. Rauf made a mess of an effort in the field off Naseem that went for four, while Babar Azam dropped Tim David before the batsman went on to score ten runs off the next three balls. Those were just the highlights, and in a low-scoring game, it counted for everything.

Pakistan’s nobody power play

Pakistan looked at the way Australia had been pulled back and perhaps thought “that won’t happen to us”. It didn’t, because they never got going in the front end of the lap in the first place. They actually lost Babar (retrieval to deep square leg) and Sahibzada Farhan (pull straight to deep midwicket) to careless shots, but for much of the first nine overs there was hardly any attempt at a boundary.

Mohammad Rizwan struggled through a particularly curious innings where he was either fond of dot balls or chipping the ball away for singles. It wasn’t until the tenth over that a boundary off the bat was finally hit as Rizwan cleared his front leg and hit Johnson over the cow corner to pick up four.

But Rizwan attempted the same shot from the next ball, only to miss it for David to take a great catch diving forward. By this time the asking rate was approaching ten and Pakistan’s top order had written cheques, which they unfairly expected their lower order to honor.

Johnson gloss

When Johnson began the innings with a wide leg side that went for five and followed it up with a wide outside off that would have done the same had the first slip not done brilliantly, any comparison with the other Johnson, Mitchell, would only have related to the phase of his career that spawned the unfortunate “he bowls left, he bowls right” chant. But it took the South Australian no time to turn his fortunes around, controlling his high pace and utilizing lateral movement beautifully to rip through Pakistan.

Farhan’s soft dismissal was only the beginning and Pakistan were dented during the innings and it proved telling.

Rizwan fell in Johnson’s return before Salman fell the next ball, leaving Pakistan’s ultra-long tail one wicket away from being exposed. With Usman and Irfan putting on a 58-run stand, it was once again Johnson who struck and took two more in an over as his added pace saw Usman smear a pull into the air before Abbas was dismissed in similar fashion . That allowed Adam Zampa’s double-wicket over to effectively seal the game despite Irfan’s presence.

Danyal Rasool is Pakinomist’s Pakistan correspondent. @Danny61000