DUBAI, Sept 10: David Warner and Shane Watson hit eleven sixes between them to help Australia score 168-7 in the third and final Twenty20 international against Pakistan here on Monday.
Warner made 34-ball 59 with six sixes and a four and Watson hammered five sixes and a boundary during his 32-ball 47 to put on Australia’s best opening stand of 111 in all T20s after they were put into bat at Dubai Stadium.
Pakistan enjoy an unbeatable 2-0 lead in the three-match series. The Australian openers went berserk from the eighth over when Watson hitShoaib Malik for three towering sixes and from the other end Warner hit left-armer Raza Hasan for as many sixes in the ninth.
Even the successful Saeed Ajmal was hit for two sixes as Australian openers hit nine sixes in the space of 19 balls, bringing the second fifty off just 15 balls.
Paceman Yasir Arafat, who replaced Sohail Tanveer as the only change to the line-up, had both the openers in successive overs to put brakes on the Australian innings, finishing with 2-30.
Glenn Maxwell chipped in with a 20-ball 27 with three fours and six.
Ajmal finished with 2-19, taking his tally to 60 wickets — the most by any bowler in Twenty20 cricket.—AFP
ScoreboardAUSTRALIA:D.A. Warner c Hafeez b Yasir 59S.R. Watson c Umar Gul b Yasir 47G.J. Maxwell c Nasir b Raza 27M.E.K. Hussey b Saeed 12G.J. Bailey b Saeed 3C.L. White c Umar Akmal b Umar Gul 0D.T. Christian c Kamran b Umar Gul 3M.S. Wade not out 6P.J. Cummins not out 1EXTRAS (B-4, LB-2, W-4) 10TOTAL (for seven wkts, 20 overs) 168FALL OF WKTS: 1-111, 2-114, 3-140, 4-145, 5-152, 6-159, 7-167.DID NOT BAT: G.B. Hogg, M.A. Starc.BOWLING: Abdul Razzaq 2-0-12-0; Umar Gul 4-0- Yasir Arafat 3-0-31-2; Saeed Ajmal 4-0-19-2; Raza Hasan 3-0-34-1 (2w); Shoaib Malik 1-0-20-0; Mohammad Hafeez 3-0-17-0.PAKISTAN: Mohammad Hafeez, Imran Nazir, Nasir Jamshed, Kamran Akmal, Shoaib Malik, Umar Akmal, Abdul Razzaq, Yasir Arafat, Umar Gul, Raza Hasan, Saeed Ajmal.UMPIRES: Ahsan Raza and Zameer Haider (both Pakistan).TV UMPIRE: Shozab Raza (Pakistan).MATCH REFEREE: R.S. Mahanama (Sri Lanka).