Australia vs Pakistan 3rd T20I, Highlights: Aaron Hardie's three-wicket haul, followed by a fiery half-century from Marcus Stoinis helped Australia defeat Pakistan by seven wickets in the third T20I of the three-match series. Chasing 118, Australia lost early two wickets but Stoinis' powerful knock of 61* off 27 balls took Australia across the line in just 11.2 overs. Earlier, Hardik took three wicket as Australia bundled out Pakistan for 117. With this win, Australia have claimed a 3-0 clean sweep against Pakistan in the three-match series. (Scorecard)
AUS vs PAK, 3rd T20I, Live Updates
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Right then, that concludes Pakistan's white-ball tour of Australia and skipper Josh Inglis goes up to the podium to pick up the trophy and joins his teammates in celebration. Next up for Australia, it is the highly-anticipated Border-Gavaskar Trophy which will include 5 Tests starting in Perth on the 22nd of November. Pakistan on the other hand travel to Zimbabwe for another white-ball tour beginning on the 24th of November. You can simply switch tabs and check all the fixtures and coverage. Until next time then, take care and goodbye!
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Josh Inglis, the victorious skipper of Australia says it has been a great week and it is nice to get another win and seal the series. Adds that when Marcus Stoinis goes like that it's hard to believe and that six on top of the roof was the biggest he has ever seen. Concludes that he heads back for the red ball now.
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Salman Agha, the captain of Pakistan, says that he thinks they weren't able to capitalize in middle overs with the bat and that's why they have lost the game. Adds that there are a lot of positives from the games like how Jahandad Khan bowled and Irfan Khan batted in the series. Concludes that they will work on their mistakes and will try to improve as a team.
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Spencer Johnson is the PLAYER OF THE SERIES for picking up 8 wickets in 3 matches including a five-wicket haul. He says it's great to be back in the side and win the way they did. Adds that every opportunity he gets to represent his nation is special and is really happy to have contributed. Mentions that this way was a pretty nice wicket for the bowlers up top and despite Babar Azam playing so nicely, they came back strong.
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Marcus Stoinis is adjudged the PLAYER OF THE MATCH for his blistering half-century. He says that he is happy with scoring runs on this good wicket and pleased with the win. Adds that it was good hitting against Rauf who is one of the best bowlers in the whole series and is happy that he was able to score those sixes against him.
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The presentation ceremony...
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Earlier in the day, the stand-in skipper for Pakistan, Salman Agha opted to bat first on a cold evening in Hobart but this move backfired. Babar Azam was prolific at the top and Usman Khan showed promise too but the visitors just kept losing wickets. The Aussie bowlers were a bit sluggish to begin with but soon got into the groove and broke the back of that middle order in the middle phase of the innings. Aaron Hardie was the chief architect as he picked up a career-best 3 for 21 and the Aussies managed to bundle out Pakistan for just 117. In reply, the Aussie openers failed to impress once again but the middle order came good and they galloped to victory.
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Pakistan didn't bowl badly even though the scorecard reflects differently, it's just that they had a very under-par total on the board and towards the end, they were just taken down by The Hulk. Shaheen Afridi got the first breakthrough after which, Jahandad Khan built on an impressive start and picked up his maiden T20I wicket as well. However, in the middle overs, they couldn't get the wickets and were soon blown away in just 11.2 overs as the likes of Haris Rauf and Shaheen Afridi were smoked to all parts of the ground.
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Needing 118 runs for the win on a deck that demanded at least 150-160 runs, Australia didn't quite begin well as they lost Matthew Short in the 3rd over and then Jake Fraser-McGurk too fell inside the Powerplay as he tried to muscle his way out. After that though, Josh Inglis and Marcus Stoinis put on a partnership and whilst Inglis played a few lovely strokes, it was Stonis who took on Haris Rauf in one over and killed the game. Stoinis didn't leave it there as he piled on more misery on the Pakistani pacers and finished the game with an unbeaten 61 off just 27 balls.
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What a way to clean-sweep the series from Australia! They have been dominant in this final game against a hapless Pakistan side and do take revenge for that shock ODI series defeat.