Skipper Babar Azam smashed his second consecutive ton as Pakistan thrashed Australia by nine wickets in the third and final ODI to seal the series on Saturday.
It was a dominant performance by the home team at Gaddafi Stadium as they bundled out Australia for a below-par 210 with the help of their fast bowlers, who shared eight wickets, and then chased down the target in just 37.5 overs.
The historic 2-1 win came after 20 years as Pakistan had earlier lost six successive ODI series against Australia — and the preceding three-Test series 0-1 last month.
Australia won the first game of the three-match ODI series by 88 runs while Pakistan clinched the second by six wickets, both played at the same venue.
“When you lose the first game then your players need confidence and once they were given that they came back strongly and did well,” said Babar after the series win.
“Credit to them for this series win.”
Meanwhile, Australia captain Aaron Finch rued lack of runs in the series decider.
“We didn’t get enough runs,” said Finch. “When you go three down in the first few overs, it’s always going to be hard to get a big total.”
Both teams will now compete in the one-off T20I that takes place in Lahore on Tuesday.
Brief scores: Australia 210 in 41.5 overs (Ben McDermott 36, Alex Carey 56, Cameron Green 34, Sean Abbott 49; Mohammad Wasim Jr 3-40, Haris Rauf 3-39) lost to Pakistan 214/1 in 37.5 overs (Imam-ul-Haq 89 not out, Babar Azam 105 not out) by 9 wickets.
Here’s how Twitter reacted:
Congratulations to @TheRealPCB on this historic win. 🇵🇰 has played brilliantly throughout this series. Huge shout-out to @ImamUlHaq12 & our skipper @babarazam258 on an excellent batting display also @iShaheenAfridi & @HarisRauf14
who were equally amazing with the ball 👏🏼 #PAKvAUS— Wahab Riaz (@WahabViki) April 2, 2022
This is historical, winning the ODI series against Australia 2-1 at home . Some phenomenal performances witnessed by the batsmen and bowlers. Keep supporting our great Pakistan. #country #team #me 🇵🇰❤️ Pakistan Zindabad pic.twitter.com/O0lyEDqFeN
— Saqlain Mushtaq (@Saqlain_Mushtaq) April 2, 2022
And again .. Simply outstanding @babarazam258 .. #TheBest
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) April 2, 2022
Alhumdulilah. We really needed some good news to cheer us all. This tournament is a world class response to a world class opponent. Well done @babarazam258 and valuable contributions by @ImamUlHaq12 @HarisRauf14 and @iShaheenAfridi and the rest of the team. Mubarak 🇵🇰 #PAKvsAUS https://t.co/xUin3fr45S
— Shahid Afridi (@SAfridiOfficial) April 2, 2022
16th ODI hundred for Pakistan captain Babar Azam, back to back in this series – he is a run machine, over 59 average in this format. pic.twitter.com/qKEcT1Ritl
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) April 2, 2022
Babar Azam gets to his 2nd ODI Century in front of his home crowd. #BoysReadyHain l #PAKvAUS pic.twitter.com/nV1uuIP1oh
— Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) April 2, 2022
He’s unstoppable. Babar Azam surges to his second consecutive hundred in this series and the 16th of his career. The man can bat! #PAKvAUS pic.twitter.com/lgmqiQq3Mg
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) April 2, 2022
Once again… ‘Captain Marvel’ does it! #anotherODITon @babarazam258 At Gaddafi 👏🤸🏽 #special #PAKvAUS pic.twitter.com/TVtvggJ1GP
— Danny Morrison (@SteelyDan66) April 2, 2022
Babar Azam’s 16 ODI hundred. Fastest in history to reach 16 hundreds, best innings to hundred rate in the history of this format (min 10 hundreds). We truly are living the the #BabarAzamEra, he has to be the best ODI batter in the world atm.
— Rehan Ulhaq (@Rehan_ulhaq) April 2, 2022
Most ODI hundreds for Pakistan:
20 Saeed Anwar in 244 innings
16 Babar Azam in 84 innings
15 Mohammad Yousuf in 267 innings#Cricket #PAKvAUS— Saj Sadiq (@SajSadiqCricket) April 2, 2022
Babar Azam has 5 Centuries in only 12 innings as Pakistan’s Captain.
Fastest to 5 ODI Hundreds as Captain (by innings)
12 BABAR AZAM*
15 Virat Kohli
27 Sourav Ganguly
29 Aaron Finch
34 Ricky Ponting & Brendan Taylor
35 Steve Smith
36 Faf du Plesis
38 AB de Villiers#PAKvAUS— Israr Ahmed Hashmi (@IamIsrarHashmi) April 2, 2022
Pakistan win the ODI series 2-1 👏
They beat Australia by nine wickets in the third and final ODI in Lahore 🙌#PAKvAUS pic.twitter.com/1IK2VE9qDP
— ICC (@ICC) April 2, 2022