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

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

It looked like it was going to be a running fest, but then it turned into a low-scoring thriller. In a changeable T20I in Sydney, Australia adapted better than Pakistan, keeping their cool to defend a modest total of 147 and closing in on a 13-run victory, which gave them 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 locked in, but he had plenty of support from his comrades in a disciplined bowling effort. This was matched by a first innings where six batters reached double figures, with the group of cameos ensuring the batters gave their bowlers enough to work with.

Pakistan looked on course for a hammering when Australia reached 50 in 3.1 overs – the fastest they have ever reached in a T20I. But Pakistan, inevitably led by Haris Rauf, hit back midway through. However, their defensive errors proved costly, and in a match with fine margins, this proved to be one of the points of difference between the teams.

They will also regret their lack of intention from the start with the bat. Pakistan limped through the first half of the innings and left themselves with too much to do late in the match. Usman Khan – who scored his maiden T20I half-century – and Irfan Khan fist-bumped to come within 13 runs of victory, but simply couldn’t do enough to undo the damage from the first over of the sleeve.

Australia ensured they did just enough things better than Pakistan and, as such, ended up being worthy winners.

Flight and uncontrolled descent

Australia started the match as if they had taken inspiration from India’s batting show against South Africa on Friday. Shaheen Afridi was playing around the arc like he was feeding a slot machine, and Matthew Short and Jake Fraser-McGurk were only too happy to oblige. Naseem Shah also failed to keep it out of the arc, and 15 balls into the match, Australia had moved to 47, having already hit five fours and three sixes.

As Pakistan learned during the white-ball tour, when in doubt, give the ball to Rauf, and it worked yet again. He was the only one who could stop the slide, and it didn’t take him long. A quick bouncer that Fraser-McGurk couldn’t control and rushed to the cover fielder pierced Australia, before a leading edge sent Josh Inglis on his way.

Abbas Afridi – who bowled all the innings magnificently – struck with the slower ball to remove Short, and suddenly it turned into an even match. After the first 15 balls of the powerplay dropped 47 runs without a wicket, the last 21 balls saw just 14 scored, with the top three Australians back.

Pakistan botched on the field, once again

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

The warning signs were there from the first round, which was when Naseem wasted a Fraser-McGurk top edge, and it only got worse from there.

Salman Agha bowled Marcus Stoinis against Rauf, while Shaheen pardoned Glenn Maxwell against Sufiyan Muqeem in the eighth. Rauf had a wasted effort in the field against Naseem who scored four runs, while Babar Azam grounded Tim David before the batter got ten runs off the next three balls. Those were just the highlights, and in a low-scoring game, everything counted.

Pakistan’s no-power game

Pakistan looked at the way Australia had been dragged back and perhaps thought ‘this won’t happen to us’. This is not the case, because they never started from the start of the round. They lost Babar (pick-up towards deep square leg) and Sahibzada Farhan (direct pull towards deep mid-wicket) to careless shots, but for most of the first nine overs there were hardly any attempts to reach a limit.

Mohammad Rizwan struggled in a particularly curious innings in which he either settled for dot balls or pushed the ball away for singles. It was only in the tenth over that a boundary was finally struck off the bat as Rizwan cleared his front leg and Johnson swept the cow corner to pick up four.

But Rizwan attempted the same shot on the next ball, only to deceive it and David made a superb catch diving forward. By then the asking rate was approaching ten, and Pakistan’s highest order had written checks that it unfairly expected its lower order to honor.

Johnson’s brilliance

When Johnson began the innings with a wide leg side that lasted five runs, and followed it with a wide outside that would have done the same thing had the first slip not been brilliantly done, any comparison with the he other Johnson, Mitchell, would only have been about the phase of his career that spawned the unfortunate “he plays left, he plays right” chant. But it took no time for the South Australian to turn the tide, controlling his high pace and exploiting lateral movement magnificently to drive past Pakistan.

Farhan’s soft dismissal was just the beginning, and Pakistan was left reeling in the intervening periods, and that proved telling.

Rizwan fell on Johnson’s return before Salman fell the next ball, leaving Pakistan’s ultra-long tail one wicket away from being exposed. When Usman and Irfan established a 58-run stand, it was once again Johnson who struck, taking two more in an over when his extra pace saw Usman loft a shot into the air before Abbas was sent in the same way. This allowed Adam Zampa’s double wicket to effectively seal the match despite the presence of Irfan.

Danyal Rasool is the Pakistan correspondent for PK Press Club. @Danny61000