10.43pm A fifth ODI win in a row for Australia, and Aaron Finch leads from the front once again with a career-best 153 not out as his team equal the record for the highest successful run chase at this ground. The result is eerily similar to that in the first ODI - again, Pakistan were a good 20 to 30 runs short, and Australia cruise home to win by eight wickets.
ABAE: "Letting Aaron Finch bowl 10 overs was a big issue here, let along with economy at which he did" -- Letting him score 153 also didn't help
"The game ebbed and flowed, and our partnership ebbed and flowed a bit too," says Usman Khawaja, who shared in a 209-run stand with Finch. "I got off with a bit of a flow while Finch was struggling to get it away, and then he started middling it. To win the first two games was really important as we know Pakistan are strong in these conditions. When you get a partnership, you have to make it count as it's hard for the new batsman coming in."
"To be honest, I think early strikes in our bowling is what we are lacking," says Shoaib Malik. "Overall, there are positives as we fought until the last ball. We are testing our bench strength. There are youngsters who we are giving chances to. Rizwan has scored runs in that position, and it's a great sign that someone is knocking on the door for the World Cup team. Since we have rested a lot of our players, we are trying other players and these things happen in international cricket, especially when you are playing a big team. Since I have this opportunity, I must also congratulate Finch on back to back hundreds. If an opener scores 150+, it's tough to win that game. Next game, there will be more youngsters in the playing XI. It's not about winning the series, it's about testing our bench strength."
Aaron Finch is the Player of the Match
"On a wicket like that, you can't afford to take it too deep with new batters," says Finch. "When you come in, it's tough to quickly at first. I just wanted to get through Imad. He comes in and challenges the stumps and your pads. It's hard to take a risk off him. I just hung in there as long as I could. Usman has been in good form, and he's getting big runs at an important time. Things are going quite well at the moment, but there are always things to improve."
"He's in good spirits," Finch says of Jhye Richardson, who dislocated his shoulder in the field earlier. "His shoulder popped out a little bit. Unfortunate for the youngster. He'll get home, have some scans and assess the damage."
That's all from your commentary team tonight. We hope you've enjoyed our coverage. Do join us for the third game in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday. And don't forget to check out Danyal Rasool's match report on your way out. Until next time, goodbye!
Tehseen: "Faheem's last over will be surprising. "
END OF OVER:47 | 11 Runs | AUS: 271/2 (14 runs required from 18 balls, RR: 5.76, RRR: 4.66)
- Aaron Finch142 (139b)
- Shaun Marsh10 (19b)
- Mohammad Hasnain9-0-54-0
- Faheem Ashraf9-0-33-0
Usman: "Can Finch retire out? That might spice things up a bit."
Malik has a word with his young bowler at the end of his run-up
Sheikh Mudasir: "Aussies trying their best to make the game interesting.."
END OF OVER:46 | 5 Runs | AUS: 260/2 (25 runs required from 24 balls, RR: 5.65, RRR: 6.25)
- Aaron Finch133 (135b)
- Shaun Marsh8 (17b)
- Faheem Ashraf9-0-33-0
- Mohammad Hasnain8-0-43-0
zee: "Pakistan again 25-30 runs short." -- I'm not so sure, this could get tight
Isaac Marshall: "Can someone please explain why Pakistan are so good in UAE T20s and so bad at UAE ODIs? They were great in recent away ODIs and in England and the reason isn't a weakened squad because they were equally bad in the Asia Cup. T20s can't be put down to a good streak because they have whitewashed nearly every touring side at UAE so what is the reason?"
