Player of the Match
Player of the Match

Match Centre

Statistics

Best performances - Batsmen

Babar Azam
Babar Azam
114(83) 11x4 - 1x6
Control %93%
  • Productive Shot
  • cover drive
  • 22 runs
  • 2x4 - 0x6
1 9 4 5 26 7 24 38
Imam-ul-Haq
Imam-ul-Haq
106(97) 6x4 - 3x6
Control %87%
  • Productive Shot
  • on drive
  • 20 runs
  • 0x4 - 1x6
4 10 5 10 28 25 4 20

Best performances - Bowlers

Shaheen Shah Afridi
Shaheen Shah Afridi
O10
M0
R63
W4
Eco6.30
RHB
OFFLEG
1W1W
1W1W
  • FTFULL TOSS
  • YYORKER
  • FFULL LENGTH
  • GGOOD LENGTH
  • SGSHORT OF GOOD LENGTH
  • SSHORT LENGTH
LHB
LEGOFF
Mohammad Wasim(1)
Mohammad Wasim(1)
O10
M0
R56
W2
Eco5.60
RHB
OFFLEG
1W
  • FTFULL TOSS
  • YYORKER
  • FFULL LENGTH
  • GGOOD LENGTH
  • SGSHORT OF GOOD LENGTH
  • SSHORT LENGTH
LHB
LEGOFF
1W

Scorer: @Thilak_Rama | Commentator: Peter Della Penna

END OF OVER:
49 | 15 Runs | PAK: 349/4 | RR: 7.12

  • Iftikhar Ahmed8 (7b)
  • Khushdil Shah27 (17b)
  • Nathan Ellis9-0-66-1
  • Sean Abbott9-0-74-0

11.07 pm What a way for Pakistan to level the series! They were 4/1 underdogs on the high street at the innings break, but pull off their highest ever chase in ODIs, and how! Babar with a classic century, perhaps his best, and becomes the fastest ever to 15 ODI tons in the process in just 83 innings, three faster than Hashim Amla. Pakistan had never lost an ODI when Fakhar and Imam put on a century partnership so that streak remains intact too.

Imam-ul-Haq after a century in victory: "Thanks to almighty Allah and my parents. It's just a process. I know my game. I just want to back myself. I worked really hard for this and it feels really special when all these things happen. It all comes down to the self-belief. We knew we could chase that. Once you get into the middle overs, we had plans that one has to get through the overs. Luckily me and Babs got rid of the overs. We thought if we can stay there and chase it, alhamdulillah we were lucky today. There's always a margin of improvement for every batsman. I really appreciate all the criticism. We need to work more on strike rate but we really focus on the hurdle and on the management and what is important for us. We know in white ball cricket if you get set, you get runs quickly and that was the best example today. We wanted to back ourself and thank God we were very successful today. Everybody knows our friendship from about 2009. We know each other's games very well. We really back each other and have that belief that we can win matches. If you play so much cricket, you know each other's weaknesses and strengths and that helps. We really needed that win for the team to boost up. They're a really good batting and fielding side. The day after tomorrow is going to be a good match."

Australia captain Aaron Finch: "I think that opening partnership set the foundation for the game for Pakistan. When you're 100 for 0 down, it allows the rest of the guys to play free and Babar came in and played an unbelievable knock. I thought 350 [sic 348] was a good score but not to be. Less dew tonight than there was the other night. The wicket played very well throughout the night. It was a beautiful one-day wicket. I thought we did quite well with the ball. There were just some times when Pakistan took the risks and they came off, which can happen in one-day cricket. When you've only got four players out in the middle overs of the game against some good players with a lot of options, it can be very hard to keep them on strike for a period of time and cut down the boundaries. We tried very hard. It was just not to be tonight."

Pakistan captain Babar Azam is named Player of the Match.

That's it from our coverage today. Come back on Saturday for the series decider. On behalf of Andrew McGlashan, I'm Peter Della Penna. Stay tuned for post-match reaction coverage from Tristan Lavalette, Danyal Rasool and the rest of the ESPNcricinfo team. Take care!

48.6
1
Ellis to Iftikhar Ahmed, 1 run, full on the stumps, punched back down the ground. Ifikhar delivers the knockout blow! Pakistan complete their highest ever successful ODI chase!
48.5
1
Ellis to Khushdil Shah, 1 run, full on off, punched to mid-off for a sharp single to level the scores.

Just two runs to win and level the series.

48.4
6
Ellis to Khushdil Shah, SIX, free hit or not, Khushdil creams this high and deep into the stands! Ellis with a back of the hand slower ball lands full on sixth stump, Khushdil keeps the hands back to clobber this into the 20th row of the crowd over long-on.
48.3
4
Ellis to Khushdil Shah, FOUR, waist high full toss on the wide guidelines, spanks this over cover to the rope on one bounce. Could have easily been called a no ball but the umpires let it slide.
48.2
1
Ellis to Iftikhar Ahmed, 1 run, length ball on the legs at 129 kph, flicked in the air flat to deep backward square fielded on a bounce for one.
48.1
2
Ellis to Iftikhar Ahmed, 2 runs, slower ball lands full on fifth stump at 106 kph, driven wide of the cover sweeper for two.

Pakistan 2nd innings Partnerships

WktRunsPlayers
1st118Fakhar ZamanImam-ul-Haq
2nd111Babar AzamImam-ul-Haq
3rd80Mohammad RizwanBabar Azam
4th8Mohammad RizwanKhushdil Shah
5th32Iftikhar AhmedKhushdil Shah