All-rounder Mohammad Nawaz grabbed five wickets for Pakistan on Sunday as Green Shirts whitewashed Australia in a three-match T20 series by 3-0 at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.
The last time Pakistan had clean-swept Australia in a T20 series was in October 2018 in the UAE.
While defending a gigantic 208-run total, Pakistan dominated the visitors by clinching a 111-run victory.
The stage was set by Shaheen Afridi, who took the wicket of the Australian captain Mitchell Marsh in the first over.
In the next over, Mohammad Nawaz dismissed Australia’s Matthew Short, as Babar Azam took his catch, and in the following over, Shaheen Afridi struck back with Matt Renshaw’s wicket.
In his five-wicket haul, Mohammad Nawaz also dismissed Marcus Stoinis and Cameron Green.
Stoinis and Green added 23 and 22 runs, respectively, for Australia, while seven other batters could not even reach double figures.
Apart from Nawaz’s five and Shaheen’s two wickets, Abrar Ahmed and Naseem Shah also grabbed a wicket each.
In the first innings, Saim Ayub and Babar Azam scored half-centuries as Pakistan posted 207 runs against Australia — the Green Shirts’ highest total against the visitors in a T20 game.
Winning the toss and opting to bat first, Pakistan decided to replace Sahibzada Farhaan with Fakhar Zaman, who opened with Saim Ayub. Farhaan was dismissed in the first match of the series without scoring any runs and had managed to score just five runs in the second game.
In today’s match, Saim scored 56 runs. He shared a 69-run partnership with Babar Azam, who remained unbeaten on 50.
All-rounder Shadab Khan played a searing 46-run knock for Pakistan on just 19 deliveries, smashing five gigantic sixes.
Pakistan skipper Salman Agha, who scored 76 runs in the previous match, flopped today and scored just five runs.
For Australia, bowler Cooper Connolly conceded 47 runs in four overs and took a single wicket, while Ben Dwarshuis grabbed two wickets.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif extended felicitations to the Pakistan team over the clean-sweep victory.
He praised Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Mohsin Naqvi, the team management and players for their performance. “I hope that this winning streak will continue in the future as well,” Shehbaz posted on X.
Teams
Pakistan: Salman Ali Agha (captain), Saim Ayub, Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam, Khawaja Nafay, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah and Abrar Ahmed.
Australia: Mitchell Marsh (captain), Matt Short, Cameron Green, Matt Renshaw, Marcus Stoinis, Josh Phillipe, Mitchell Owen, Cooper Connolly, Ben Dwarshuis, Matthew Kuhnemann and Adam Zampa.
