Babar’s ton leads Pakistan to ODI series win over Australia

Skipper Babar Azam smashed his second successive hundred as Pakistan thrashed Australia by nine wickets in the final one-dayer to claim a 2-1 series victory on Saturday, April 2, 2022.

The foundation of the win was laid by Pakistan’s fiery pace trio of Haris Rauf, Mohammad Wasim and Shaheen Afridi who bundled out Australia for 210 inside 42 overs.

Babar’s unbeaten 105 and opener Imam-ul-Haq’s 89 (not out) made light work of the meagre chase to guide Pakistan home with 12.2 overs to spare.

Australia, put into bat, got off to a horror start when they slumped to six for three.

Shaheen (2-40) removed in-form Travis Head with the first ball of the match before Haris (3-39) dismissed Aaron Finch and Marnus Labuschagne in quick succession.

Alex Carey (56) top-scored for the visitors and Ben McDermott (36), Sean Abbott (49) and Cameron Green (34) helped them pass the 200-mark but the Australia bowlers had little to defend.

Nathan Ellis removed Fakhar Zaman for 17 but Imam and Babar ensured there was no dramatic batting collapse that would allow Australia back into the contest.

Babar, who forged an unbroken 190-run partnership with Imam, hit 12 boundaries in his 16th ODI century.

Australia, who won the three-test series 1-0, will conclude their first tour of Pakistan in 24 years with a one-off Twenty20 match, also in Lahore, on Tuesday.