Pakistan pacer Haris Rauf who won the Player of the Match award for his impressive five-wicket haul in the second ODI of the Pakistan tour of Australia 2024 said his BBL experience helped him a lot.
Rauf single-handedly scattered the Australian middle-order by dismissing Josh Inglis (18), Labuschagne (6), Aaron Hardie (14), Maxwell (16) and Cummins (13).
“We are happy to win this game. We have fans everywhere in the world, we are just trying to give them happiness. I have played a lot of games for the Melbourne Stars, so I knew these conditions”, Haris Rauf after winning the Player of the Match award in the second ODI vs Australia.
Speaking of the match, Pakistan won the toss and opted to bowl first where Matthew Short and Jake Fraser-McGurk opened the inning on behalf of Australia. Pakistan bowlers exhibited an aggressive attack since the first ball of the innings.
Australia struggled to withstand the Pakistan pace attack and lost wickets in a regular intervals. Shaheen Afridi made the first wicket by dismissing Fraser-McGurk for 13 and soon struck back in the seventh over and dismissed Short for 19.
After losing the openers before reaching the 50 runs mark, Aussie batters might planned to move the inning in a steady manner. But Pakistan bowers with their impressive bowling ability gave no room for the hosts to build a partnership.
Steven Smith’s 35 off 48 is the highest individual score by an Australian player in this match. Haris Rauf played a crucial role in Pakistan’s successful bowling attack as the pacer bagged five wickets for 29 runs in the eight overs he bowled.
On the other hand, Australian bowlers failed to replicate the hosts’ bowling performances and struggled to bag a wicket. Saim Ayub and Abdullah Shafique made a 100-run stand for the first wicket in the 163-run target game.
Zampa dismissed Ayub for 82 runs when Pakistan scored 137 runs. With Abdullah Shafique’s unbeaten 64, Pakistan reached the target in 26.3 overs and won the game by nine wickets.
With the victory, Pakistan levelled the three-match ODI series by 1-1 with the third and final match to be played on November 10 in Perth Stadium, Perth.
