LAHORE: It became the icing on the cake for Pakistan under lights here at the Gaddafi Stadium on Sunday night.

A superb all-round show handed Salman Ali Agha and his men a glorious 111-run victory against Australia giving the hosts a heartening 3-0 whitewash against the world’s second-ranked opponents.

After posting a gigantic 207-6, the Green-shirts fully exposed the touring Aussies’ batting frailty in spin-friendly conditions inside 17 overs.

It was also Pakistan’s biggest T20 International win against Australia in terms of runs, surpassing the 90-run triumph the hosts gained a couple of days ago.

At his deadly best, Mohammad Nawaz grabbed his career-best 5-18 as the slow left-arm spinner bettered his 5-18 show against Afghanistan. He richly earned the player-of-the-match honours. With the bat, Saim Ayub, Babar Azam and Shadab Khan excelled in front of a big crowd.

Salman lauded his team’s performance in the series.

“We have been excellent in all departments; I can’t find any mistakes,” the skipper, who was named man-of-the-series, said. “We dominated them. I am in a great frame of mind right now.

“I know how to handle the captaincy when I go out to bat and I really want to do that in the World Cup as well.”

Marsh admitted the visiting team had not been good enough.

“Pakistan certainly outplayed us throughout the whole series. As I said yesterday, there are learnings for us in this series,” he said.

Chasing a mountainous target, Australia could not recover after losing their captain Mitchell Marsh (one) in the opening over of the innings to a superb Shaheen Shah Afridi ball that rattled the right-hander’s stumps followed by the dismissal of fellow opener Matthew Short (two) in the second over bowled by Nawaz.

Shaheen again disturbed the timber in the third over to remove Matthew Renshaw (one) as Australia dipped further to 16-3. Cameron Green (22 off 24 balls) and Marcus Stoinis, who top-scored with 23 off 22 with three fours, took Australia to in 41-3 in powerplay as the required run-rate kept mounting.

Nawaz in a double blow to the tourists sent both the batters back to the pavilion in the 10th over to push Australia to 63-5 at halfway stage. Stoinis dragged the ball onto the stumps while trying to cut while Green was undone by a mesmerising delivery around off-stump.

In another superb two-wicket over, 14th of the innings, that almost ended the contest, Nawaz picked up the scalps of Josh Phillippe (14), who was caught brilliantly by substitute fielder Sahibzada Farhan at deep square leg, and Cooper Connolly (zero) who was stumped by wicket-keeper Khawaja Nafay. At 82-7, Australia could now be saved only by a miracle that did not happen.

Mitchell Owen made eight before he was trapped by mystery spinner Abrar Ahmed in the next over to make it 86-8 while Naseem Shah accounted for tailender Matthew Kuhnemann as Australian innings ended at 96 in 16.5 overs. Last man Adam Zampa was hurt and not able to bat.

Shaheen picked up 2-16 in three overs.

Earlier after electing to bat first, Pakistan posted a massive total thanks to a comprehensive batting display.

Losing Fakhar Zaman (10), who was brought back to replace Sahibzada, to Short in the second over and in-form Salman (five) to paceman Ben Dwarshuis in the fourth left Pakistan at 34-2.

At this point, Babar joined Saim and both steered the team to 55-2 in powerplay. They continued to flourish in an invaluable 69-run stand off 45 balls as Pakistan crossed 100 in 10.3 overs. Saim smashed a typical 37-ball 56 laced with six fours and a couple of sixes while Babar, finally regaining some form, made 50 not out off 36 while striking three fours and a maximum.

Left-handed Saim was sent back by Kuhnemann in the 12th over while Khawaja Nafay (21 off 12, two sixes, one four) was picked up by Connolly as Pakistan were now 131-4 in 14 overs.

In came Shadab who looked in punishing mood as the right-hander cracked five sixes and a brace of fours in his 19-ball 46. He added 57 runs alongside Babar before the former was nicely caught by wicket-keeper Phillippe off Dwarshuis in the 19th over. Pakistan were now 188-5. Nawaz (five) was dismissed in the final over bowled by Green while Faheem Ashraf (10 not out) struck two fours to help Pakistan cross the 200 mark.

Kuhnemann (1-27), Short (1-31 in three overs), Connolly (1-47), Dwar­shuis (2-39) and Green (1-43 in three overs) were the wicket-takers.

SCOREBOARD

PAKISTAN:

Fakhar Zaman c Green b Short 10

Saim Ayub c Renshaw b Kuhnemann 56

Salman Ali Agha c Green b Dwarshuis 5

Babar Azam not out 50

Khawaja Nafay c Short b Connolly 21

Shadab Khan c Philippe b Dwarshuis 46

Mohammad Nawaz c Short b Green 5

Faheem Ashraf not out 10

EXTRAS (NB-2, W-2) 4

TOTAL (for six wickets, 20 overs) 207

DID NOT BAT: Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah, Abrar Ahmed

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-14 (Fakhar), 2-34 (Salman), 3-103 (Saim), 4-131 (Nafay), 5-188 (Shadab), 6-194 (Nawaz)

BOWLING: Kuhnemann 4-0-27- 1 (1nb), Short 3-0-31-1, Connolly 4-0-47-1, Dwarshuis 4-0-39-2, Zampa 2-0-20-0, Green 3-0-43-1 (2w, 1nb)

AUSTRALIA:

M. Marsh b Shaheen 1

M. Short c Babar b Nawaz 2

C. Green b Nawaz 22

M. Renshaw b Shaheen 1

M. Stoinis b Nawaz 23

J. Philippe c (sub) b Nawaz 14

M. Owen lbw b Abrar 8

C. Connolly st Nafay b Nawaz 0

B. Dwarshuis not out 7

M. Kuhnemann c Fakhar b Naseem 5

A. Zampa absent hurt

EXTRAS (B-5, LB-2, NB-1, W-5) 13

TOTAL (all out, 16.5 overs) 96

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-2 (Marsh), 2-4 (Short), 3-16 (Renshaw), 4-60 (Stoinis), 5-63 (Green), 6-82 (Philippe), 7-82 (Connolly), 8-86 (Owen), 9-96 (Kuhnemann)

BOWLING: Shaheen 3-0-16-2 (1w), Nawaz 4-0-18-5, Abrar 3-0-18-1, Naseem 2.5-0-17-1 (1nb), Shadab 3-0-14-0, Faheem 1-0-6-0

RESULT: Pakistan won by 111 runs.

PLAYER-OF-THE-MATCH: Mohammad Nawaz

SERIES: Pakistan won the series 3-0.

PLAYER-OF-THE-SERIES: Salman Ali Agha

Published in Dawn, February 2nd, 2026