Sports

Stoinis stars as Australia sweeps T20I series 3-0 against Pakistan

After opting to bat, the Pakistanis raced to 62-1 before crumbling to 117 all out in the 19th over.

Stoinis stars as Australia sweeps T20I series 3-0 against Pakistan

Australia celebrates with the trophy after the third Twenty20 international cricket match against Pakistan at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart on November 18, 2024.

AFP

Marcus Stoinis slammed five huge sixes in an unbeaten 61 as Australia crushed Pakistan by seven wickets in Hobart on Monday to secure a 3-0 T20 series whitewash.

Chasing a meagre 118, the hosts chased the target in the 12th over to hand Pakistan a reality check after the visitors won the preceding ODI series 2-1.

Stoinis was unstoppable once he got going, also blasting five fours in his 27-ball masterclass.

"It's really nice to get another win and go 3-0 up," said Australia skipper Josh Inglis.

"When Stoinis is going like that, it's really hard to stop. One of those sixes was probably the biggest I've seen," he added.

The match at Bellerive Oval was a dead rubber after Australia won a rain-hit match in Brisbane by 29 runs and then in Sydney by 13 runs.

After opting to bat, Pakistan raced to 62-1 before crumbling to 117 all out in the 19th over with Babar Azam top-scoring on 41 and Aaron Hardie taking 3-21.

Australia races to the target

Jake Fraser-McGurk began the run chase with consecutive boundaries from Shaheen Shah Afridi before the speedster dismissed Matt Short for two, caught at mid-on by Irfan Khan.

Fraser-McGurk (18) followed next over, undone by the sheer pace of Jahandad Khan in another mis-fire by the 22-year-old.

But Inglis kept the scoreboard ticking over alongside Stoinis, who let rip in the ninth over, punishing Haris Rauf for 20, including a massive six that landed on the stadium roof.

Their 55-run partnership ended when Inglis scooped Abbas Afridi to Rauf on 27, which brought Tim David to the crease.

He was bystander to Stoinis, who brought up his fifth T20 half-century with another giant six before seeing them home.

"There's lots of positives, the way some of the players batted and bowled, these youngsters will come good," said Salman Agha, Pakistan's skipper for the night with Mohammad Rizwan rested.

"It's a big achievement for us to win a one-day series here after 22 years, we could have done better in the T20 series but we'll come back stronger."

Pakistan batting falters again

Sahibzada Farhan opened the Pakistan batting with Azam in the absence of Rizwan.

But on a chilly evening, he lasted just seven balls before top-edging a short one from Spencer Johnson -- fresh from taking five wickets in Sydney -- to Xavier Bartlett.

Azam produced a series of elegant strokes as he and Haseebullah Khan put on a quickfire 44 for the second wicket.

Pakistan's Babar Azam in action during the third T20I against Australia in Hobart.PCB

But Khan was no match for Adam Zampa's spin, collecting an outside edge on 24 to Short.

Pakistan's woes mounted with Usman Khan (3) caught on the ropes after slogging Hardie and Agha trapped lbw by the same bowler for one.

It left them reeling on 72-4 at the halfway mark and when Zampa bowled Azam and Khan (10) was needlessly run out they were in deep trouble.

Shaheen Shah Afridi blasted the only six of the innings, but didn't last as the tailenders were mopped up.

Comments

See what people are discussing

More from Sports

Jason Gillespie steps down as Pakistan Test coach

Jason Gillespie steps down as Pakistan Test coach

The Australian had signed a two-year contract with the PCB earlier this year to coach the red-ball team.