MCG continues to haunt Haris Rauf and Pakistan as the visitors fail to finish off Australia despite stunning fightback.
MCG bore witness to another Australia victory over Pakistan- their 27th in the last 28 ODIs between the two.
However, that would seriously undermine a Pakistani retaliation that was both abrupt and unanticipated. This appeared to be as easy an ODI victory as it could get, with Australia dominating the match from start to finish and racing to 139 for 3 in the 20th over after chasing a disappointing 204. However, Haris Rauf bowled the next over, the fifth of his delivery, after Shaheen Shah Afridi had Josh Inglis hole out in the deep to bring in a new man.
On a surface that remained true throughout, Rauf still had the speed to draw extra bounce, and Marnus Labuschagne’s leading edge carried all the way to third man. The next ball kissed the edge on its quick path through to Mohammad Rizwan after drawing Glenn Maxwell into a cautious prod first up. In a nation where they have had little success, Pakistan was back and appeared to be the favourite after Australia had lost three wickets for 0 runs in five balls.
“We were all trying our best, whether in the field or with the ball,” Rauf said after the game. “I had a plan to bowl short from my end. We had success; we took a few wickets this way.”
Australia’s hold on Pakistan ultimately proved difficult to break. As he has so frequently done in the past, Pat Cummins maintained his composure and made sure he was there to smash the winning runs and secure a two-wicket victory at the MCG even if the visitors did take another couple of wickets and expose the tail.
Rauf lamented Pakistan’s carelessness. Australia had only given up four extras, whereas they had given up twenty-one. Naseem Shah bowled another five, and Rauf himself blasted a wide so deep down leg that it sped away four and an extra four at such a fast velocity. In contrast, Mohammad Hasnain claimed Australia’s seventh wicket in the same over after sending two wides well over the batter’s head. Pakistan was under more strain as a result.
“We did give away extras but when you attack, you have to accept that these things happen,” Rauf said. “The team did make mistakes, and we were a bit untidy. We know these little things make an impact. If you’re a good bowling unit, then you can cover the batters falling 20-30 runs short if you tighten up in the field as well. We could have defended this and we all tried really hard. The game didn’t go our way, but we gave no quarter in terms of our energy and our effort.”