Hafeez leads Pak to win over Australia

Melbourne, January 15 

Pakistan’s stand-in captain Mohammad Hafeez hit a fighting fifty to set up a comprehensive six-wicket victory against Australia in the second ODI on Sunday that levelled the five-match series.

Pakistan reached their target with 14 balls to spare after their bowlers had bundled out the hosts for 220 in the penultimate over of their innings.

It was the first win for Pakistan against Australia in Australia across all formats since their victory in an ODI at the WACA in January, 2005. Mohammad Amir was the most successful Pakistan bowler with three wickets for 47 after left-arm fast bowler Junaid Khan put Australia on the backfoot by sending back the openers cheaply.

Pakistan’s spinners, led by left-armer Imad Wasim (2/37), then bowled tightly on a sluggish pitch to keep Australia shackled. Australia captain Steve Smith top-scored for his side with 60 but a number of other batsmen got out after promising starts. Hafeez, who was not part of the original ODI squad and arrived in Australia as a late addition, was handed the captaincy after regular skipper Azhar Ali was ruled out with a hamstring injury.

The right-handed opener struggled against Australia’s pacemen initially and Smith dropped him on nought in the slips off Mitchell Starc. Hafeez, who survived again on 55, batted fluently after his initial troubles and set up the chase with an opening stand of 68 with Sharjeel Khan (29) before a second-wicket partnership of 72 with Babar Azam (34).   — Reuters

Brief scores: Pakistan: 221/4 in 47.4 overs (Hafeez 72, Azam 34, Malik 42*; Starc 2/45, Faulkner 2/35); Australia: 220 all out in 48.2 overs (Smith 60, Wade 35; Amir 3/47).