Hafeez leads from the front as Pakistan levels series
Pakistan beat Australia by six wickets in the second One-Day International at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday (January 15), its first ODI win on Australian soil for 12 years.
The win was also Pakistan's first ODI victory at the MCG since 1985, and levelled the five-match series at 1-1.
Steven Smith, the Australian captain, won the toss and chose to bat first, but Mohammad Amir (3 for 47) and Junaid Khan (2 for 40), Pakistan's opening pair, bowled superbly to help restrict the home side to 220 all out.
They were backed up by Imad Wasim (2 for 37), the left-arm spinner, whose 10-over spell in the middle of the innings tied the batsmen down and slowed the scoring.
The modest total never looked enough once Mohammad Hafeez (72 off 104), the Pakistan skipper, and Sharjeel Khan (29 off 32) had put on 68 for the first wicket in 14.3 overs.
Babar Azam chipped in with a 49-ball 34 before Shoaib Malik (42 not out off 52) and Umar Akmal (18 not out off 20) guided the visiting side home with 2.2 overs to spare.
"I think the bowlers did a great job for us," said Hafeez, who was also named the Man of the Match, having bowled 10 overs and given up 45 runs for no wicket. "We wanted to get a total on the board that we were comfortable with because the ball wasn't coming on to the bat. The bowlers took wickets at the right time and kept the pressure on."
Australia’s seam attack did its best to restrict the Pakistan batting, with Josh Hazelwood (0 for 32) the most impressive despite not taking a wicket, and James Faulkner (2 for 35) effective with his changes of pace.
But Pakistan took runs off the other bowlers, as the chase was never in trouble.
Amir and Junaid Khan had set the tone early with their impressive opening spells. Junaid, brought into the team in place of Wahab Riaz, induced an edge from the dangerous David Warner (16) to leave the Australians 31 for 1.
Junaid soon added the scalp of Usman Khawaja when he edged to Sharjeel Khan at first slip, who took a fine catch low to his left.
Australia promoted Mitchell Marsh, the allrounder, up the order but the experiment failed as he scooped the first ball he faced from Amir to Imad at cover to leave the home side 41 for 3.
Travis Head then joined Smith in the middle and hit five boundaries on his way to 29 before he edged Hasan Ali to Mohammad Rizwan to leave Australia 86 for 4.