Stoinis blitzes Pakistan as Australia sweep T20I series

HOBART (Agencies): Marcus Stoinis blasted 61 not out off 27 balls as Australia steamrollered Pakistan by seven wickets in the third T20 International to complete a 3-0 series sweep on Monday. Stoinis smacked five sixes and as many fours in his blistering knock as Australia chased down the 118-run victory target with 8.4 overs to spare at the Bellerive Oval. Electing to bat, Pakistan were cruising at 61-1 in the seventh over before wheels came off their innings and they were bundled out for 117 in 18.1 overs. Adam Zampa dismissed Haseebullah Khan (24) in the seventh over to trigger a collapse and Pakistan could add 56 runs before losing their remaining nine wickets. Zampa also claimed the crucial wicket of Babar Azam (41), who stepped out against the leg-spinner and would have been stumped if he was not bowled by a delivery that sneaked through his gate. For Australia, Aaron Hardie claimed 3-21, while Spencer Johnson grabbed two wickets and also ran out Irfan Khan with a direct throw from midwicket. Australia lost both their openers, Matthew Short and Jake Fraser-McGurk, inside four overs but Stoinis counter-attacked in spectacular fashion dashing Pakistan’s hopes of any collapse.

Stoinis plundered 22 runs, which included two sixes and two fours, off a Haris Rauf over to effectively kill off the contest. Player-of-the-match Stoinis raced to a 23-ball half-century reaching the 50-mark with a monster six off Shaheen Afridi. He levelled the score with another six, this time off Abbas Afridi, but the winning run came via a no-ball after Abbas hurled a chest-high full toss. “It’s been a great week, we had a lot of fun as a group,” said Josh Inglis, who led a second-string Australia squad in absence of, among others, T20 captain Mitchell Marsh. “It’s really nice to get another win tonight and go three-nil up.” Inglis, who made 27, heaped praise on Stoinis, who tore into the Pakistan attack. “When he’s going like that, it’s really hard to stop him and that six over the roof was one of the biggest I’ve ever seen,” he said. Pakistan’s stand-in captain Agha Salman said they should have done better after their strong start with the bat. “I think in the middle overs, we didn’t capitalise on the start,” he said. “It’s obviously a big achievement winning the ODI series but we could have done much better in the T20Is.” Pakistan won the preceding one-day series 2-1.

Brief scores:

Australia 118 for 3 (Stoinis 61 not out, Inglis 27, Afridi 1-14) beat Pakistan 117 all out (Babar 41, Hardie 3-21, Zampa 2-11) by 7 wickets.