PAK vs AUS. 2nd ODI: Pakistan's embarrassing batting collapse helps Australia draw level

Match overview

Pakistan, as they have mostly done in the last few years, conceded a wonderful opportunity and failed to take an unassailable lead in the ongoing three-match ODI series against Australia as they lost the second ODI by 41 runs.

Electing to field first after winning the toss, it's fair to say that Pakistan justified the call as they restricted Australia to just 231 for the loss of nine wickets in 50 overs. Captain Shaheen Shah Afridi led from the front and returned figures of 3/36. He received ample support from the rest of the bowling group as Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed and Arafat Minhas grabbed two wickets apiece.

For Australia, skipper Josh Inglis scored a half-century and played diligently on a tacky surface at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. Inglis struck five boundaries in his innings.

Allrounder Cameron Green also registered a fifty but failed to convert it into a three-figure mark. His innings was studded with a solitary four and two sixes. Matt Renshaw's run-a-ball 43 and Oliver Peake's 32-ball 31 took Australia to a defendable total.

In reply, Pakistan lost six for 78 in just 16.3 overs with only wicketkeeper batter Ghazi Ghori (37 off 48) showing run-scoring intent among the top-six batters. 

Player of the Match (POTM) Nathan Ellis was superb with the ball as he accounted for Maaz Sadaqat and Babar Azam before coming back into the attack and breaking the 59-run stand for the seventh wicket between Minhas and Shadab Khan to bring the Aussies back into the hunt.

Ellis finished with career-best figures of 4/33 as he cleaned up Haris Rauf to break a gritty stand between him and Shadab.

Tanveer Sangha ended Shadab's tenacious knock of 71 off 104 balls, getting him stumped down the leg side and helped Australia bowl Pakistan out for just 190 in 44 overs. Matt Short was impressive with the ball too as he finished with figures of 3/36.

Top run-scorer of the match

Top wicket-taker of the match

Player of the Match

Nathan Ellis

Nathan Ellis registered his career best spell (4/33) and proved yet again why is rated so highly in Australia's white-ball circuit. While he was brilliant with the new ball as he accounted for Maaz Sadaqat and Babar Azam, he was equally effective as the ball got older. His change-ups were too good for the lower order and Pakistan had no chance of succeeding against him.

Turning Point

The batting collapse which saw Pakistan stumble to 78/6 was where they lost grip of the game. While Shadab and Minhas fought bravely, it was too steep a climb for them.

What the captains said

Winning Team Captain, Josh Inglis (AUS)

 I think mostly it was probably on the batting front. I know guys had some good conversations around training yesterday, just about individual method and how they were going to go about it, and it was obviously dependent on the wicket, and it looked very similar to the other day. So, yeah, I thought the guys played it really well today. There were some good contributions across the board and some good partnerships on the batting front. [You wanted to bat deep] Yeah, I think so. I think it was a pretty good total in the end. It would have been nice for someone to go on and get a big score, but it was just about building that partnership in those middle overs, just being nice and patient, and yeah, we thought anything over 200, we were right in the game [One thing you have to work on is DRS] I blame the bowlers [laughter]. Yeah, he was outstanding tonight [Ellis]. You can always call on Nello on those sort of pitches, his variations are outstanding, and when you've got on-pace at 145 and then your slow balls at just over 100k an hour, it's really tough. So, yeah, I thought he bowled outstanding tonight."

Losing Team Captain, Shaheen Afridi (PAK)

"I think we gave away 20-30 extra runs towards the end. We lost wickets early on and that built pressure on us. [Different surface than Pindi] It is a spinning track, not easy to bat on. Yes, in the second innings the ball comes nicely onto the bat, but the way Nathan Ellis bowled well; he bowled at stump to stump and that brought him success. [Series decider game] We will try to win the game. There's just a day's gap, so we won't look too much at our mistakes. [Bowling unit] Yes, on these wickets, the more you bowl in the line of the stumps, the more it helps since it doesn't swing much. When it started to reverse, the ball was changed so our bowlers didn't get much help from the old ball."