Pakistan captured their 10th T20I series in a row when they beat Australia by 11 runs in the second T20 held at Dubai on Friday.
The victory gave Pakistan an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series as they continued to cement their No1 status in the format.
Defending a total of 147-6, Sarfraz Ahmed‘s men managed to restrict the Aussies to 136-8 in their 20 overs. Imad Wasim was the star of the show for Pakistan with excellent figures of 1-8 from his four overs. Here, we take a closer look at his brilliant performance.
STATISTICS
OVERS: 4
RUNS CONCEDED: 8
WICKETS: 1
MAIDENS: 1
ECONOMY-RATE: 2
30-SECOND REPORT
With Pakistan attempting to defend a score of 147, Imad was once again thrown the new ball. The left-arm spinner started off by keeping things quite against openers Aaron Finch and DโArcy Short. He played an important โhandโ in the run-out of Short by getting his finger tips to the ball off his own bowling.
Bowling his third over on the trot in the powerplay, Imad dismissed the dangerous Chris Lynn after the Aussie batsman got a leading edge to his shot. That over ended as a wicket-maiden. He finished off his spell with another tight over with his miserly spell increasing the run-rate pressure on the Aussies substantially.
Most economical 4 over spells in the history of T20Is for Pakistan:
— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) October 26, 2018
4-1-6-2 Mohammad Amir v UAE in 2016
4-0-7-3 Shadab Khan v W Indies in 2017
4-0-8-4 Umar Gul v Australia in 2009
4-1-8-1 Imad Wasim today v Australia #Cricket #PAKvAUS
GOT RIGHT
When you concede just eight runs from half as many overs in a T20 match, you are definitely doing plenty right. The Pakistan all-rounder bowled wicket-to-wicket as he always does, not allowing the Aussie batsman any room to free their hands. On a slow Dubai surface, Imad varied his pace nicely to keep the batsman guessing.
His tight lines and lengths meant the asking-rate continued to shoot up for the Aussies and by the time he finished his spell in the ninth over of the innings, Pakistan were well and truly on top due to his efforts. Seventeen dot balls in a 24-ball spell is a sensational effort.
Imad Wasim 4 over 8 runs 1 wkt๐๐๐ Wow ๐๐@simadwasim U Beauty ๐โค๏ธโค๏ธ
— Khan Muhammad ๐ (@Khan_Afridii10) October 26, 2018
Superman catch @76Shadabkhan great catch ๐๐๐๐#PakistanZindabad #PAKvAUS pic.twitter.com/590NejntFE
GOT WRONG
Thereโs not much to fault in Imadโs sublime spell. The wide he conceded in his third over is the only time he erred on Friday and for that, it would be ridiculous to point fingers at him!
VERDICT โ 9.5/10
For the second match in a row, the southpaw starred in a big way for Pakistan. While his three wickets in Dubai had triggered an almighty Australia collapse, his highly economical spell at Dubai paved the way for other bowlers to profit. Although he directly played a hand in only two of the wickets to fall, he indirectly was a factor in the rest of the dismissals too due to the scoreboard pressure his spell had created. Given how close Australia and Glenn Maxwell came in the end to chasing down the total, Imad’s spell was very well the clincher for Pakistan.
It is hard to believe that Imad has been on an exile from the Pakistan squad for almost a year given how handy a bowler he is in the T20 format. With his excellent comeback, the No1 ranked Pakistan squad should only get stronger. The eight runs he conceded is the joint third-most economical spell in T20 cricket by a Pakistan bowler.
