The dominance of Pakistan’s pace bowling has made a notable impression in the history of world cricket. Haris Rauf wreaked havoc on the Australian batting order, completely dismantling it with his fiery bowling. He took 5 wickets for 29 runs as Australia was skittled out for just 163 in the second ODI at the Adelaide Oval, giving Pakistan a wonderful opportunity to level the series. His impressive delivery to remove Marnus Labuschagne was simply superb. Four of Rauf’s wickets came with the help of catches by skipper Mohammad Rizwan, who equaled the record for the most dismissals by a wicketkeeper in an ODI. Steven Smith was the top scorer for Australia with 35 runs in a poor batting display. Matthew Short and Jake Fraser-McGurk looked promising from the start; however, Shaheen Afridi struck early and picked up both openers, with Australia losing their first wicket at just 21 runs. Afridi then dismissed Matthew Short, leaving the score at 41 for 2. The Australian team continued to collapse, losing wickets in quick succession: they fell to 79 for 3, then 87 for 4, 101 for 5, 121 for 6, 129 for 7, 130 for 8, 146 for 9, and finally, they were all out for 163. Haris Rauf achieved his five-wicket haul with a commendable economy rate of 3.62, while Shaheen Afridi took 3 wickets. Mohammad Husnain and Naseem Shah each contributed with 1 wicket.
It was a clinical win for Pakistan as they bounced back in style to level the ODI series at 1-1. Saim Ayub and Abdullah Shafique put together a remarkable partnership of 137 runs for the first wicket, with Saim Ayub scoring 82 runs off 5 boundaries and 6 sixes, while Abdullah Shafique added 64 runs with 4 boundaries and 3 sixes. Pakistan’s batting dominance dismantled the Australian bowling attack, leading to a comfortable victory by 9 wickets.
