Pakistan on Saturday clinched the T20I series against Australia, with a 90-run thrashing of the visitors in the second match at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium, taking an unassailable 2-0 lead.
Skipper Salman Agha hit his highest score in the shortest format before Pakistan’s spinners routed Australia by 90 runs.
Agha hit a 40-ball 76 and Usman Khan smashed a 36-ball 53 as Pakistan made 198-5, their highest-ever T20I total against Australia.
This was enough for Pakistan’s spin quintet, who shared all ten wickets between them with Abrar Ahmed returning the best figures of 3-14 and Shadab Khan finishing with 3-26.
Australia were routed for 108 in 15.4 overs, giving Pakistan their biggest T20I victory over Australia, eclipsing the 66-run win in Abu Dhabi in 2018.
“It has to be a perfect game,” said Agha. “We batted well and then were outstanding with the ball. Fielding was outstanding.”
The victory gives Pakistan an unbeatable 2-0 lead after they won the first match by 22 runs, also in Lahore, on Friday.
“We want to play in the same way, forget the 2-0 scoreline and come again with the same intensity and go to the World Cup with the same energy,” said Agha of the event starting in India and Sri Lanka from February 7.
This is Pakistan’s first T20I series win over Australia since 2018. The final match is on Sunday, also in Lahore.
Despite skipper Mitchell Marsh coming back after resting on Friday, the visiting batters had little answer to Pakistan’s spin assault.
Ahmed dismissed Marsh for 18, Josh Inglis for five and Matthew Short for 27. Cameroon Green top scored with a 20-ball 35 before spinner Usman Tariq dismissed him on his way to figures of 2-16.
Marsh admitted Pakistan were better.
“Pakistan outplayed us,” said Marsh. “Hopefully, we can improve and come back tomorrow. They put us under great pressure in batting; it was probably a 160-170 wicket so they scored a big total.”
Earlier, Agha and Usman led Pakistan to a fighting total after they won the toss and batted.
Agha built the innings with Saim Ayub (11-ball 23) during a second wicket stand of 55 as Pakistan scored 72 runs in the power-play.
Agha’s previous highest in all T20 cricket was 68 not out.
After Babar Azam failed with a five-ball two, Usman helped Agha add another quickfire 49 for the fourth wicket before Sean Abbott broke the stand.
Agha smashed four sixes and eight fours in his sixth Twenty20 half century.
Pakistan added a good 61 runs in the last five overs with Usman knocking two sixes and four fours in his second T20I half-century while Shadab’s knock had two sixes and a four.
The Usman-Shadab fifth-wicket stand yielded 63 runs off just 39 balls.
Shadab finished with an unbeaten 20-ball 28.
Pacer Xavier Bartlett and spinner Matthew Kuhnemann were expensive, conceding 92 runs between them in their eight overs.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif offered his “heartiest congratulations” to the team on their victory and “phenomenal performance” in the T20 series in a post on X.
He lauded the players, the team management and Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Mohsin Naqvi for “their dedication and outstanding efforts”.
“May this winning momentum continue,” he said.
For his part, Naqvi congratulated the team on winning the series against Australia. He also lauded the Green Shirts’ teamwork.
He expressed the hope that the team would live up to the nation’s expectations in the future.
On Thursday, in the opening match of the series, the Green Shirts achieved their first T20I victory against Australia in more than seven years. Saim Ayub gave an outstanding all-round performance, taking two wickets after a blistering 40-run knock.
The two teams played a three-match Test and an ODI series in March-April 2022, followed by a solitary T20I where they bagged a close three-wicket win at Gaddafi Stadium.
Australia also played three of their 2025 Champions Trophy matches in Pakistan.
Teams
Pakistan: Salman Ali Agha (captain), Saim Ayub, Sahibzada Farhan, Babar Azam, Usman Khan, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Naseem Shah, Usman Tariq and Abrar Ahmed.
Australia: Mitchell Marsh (captain), Travis Head, Matt Short, Cameron Green, Josh Inglis, Matt Renshaw, Cooper Connolly, Xavier Bartlett, Sean Abbott, Matthew Kuhnemann and Adam Zampa.
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