PAK vs AUS | 2nd ODI | Babar Azam, Imam-ul-Haq earn Pakistan an astounding win to level series

The second ODI of the ongoing Pakistan-Australia series witnessed a high-scoring affair on Thursday. The hosts outscored the Aussies at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore, to pull off a record run-chase to level the series at 1-1.

Pakistan opted to bowl first, and initially, their decision seemed to have backfired. However, Australian batters left no stone unturned and showed some outrageous strokeplay to record a mammoth total of 348 runs. 

Although Aaron Finch again became a victim of Shaheen Shah Afridi, Travis Head and Ben McDermott went about their business with an aggressive approach, sending the ball towards every corner of the ground. While Head fell 11 runs short of a second consecutive ton, McDermott brought up his maiden ODI century.

Marnus Labuschagne and Marcus Stoinis provided Australia with the much-needed impetus in the middle and slog overs. Even though the visitors lost wickets regularly while trying to score quick runs at the end, Sean Abbott managed to hit quite a few boundaries as Australia gave Pakistan a target of 349 runs.

With a momentous task to achieve, Pakistani openers Fakhar Zaman and Imam-ul-Haq delivered what was asked for. The swashbuckling pair of southpaws had one eye on the scoring rate while ensuring they did not throw away their wickets with the other.

After Fakhar got dismissed, Babar Azam arrived at the wicket to lay his contribution to the run-fest. The talismanic skipper took the matter into his own hands as fours and sixes rained upon at Lahore. Imam smashed his second hundred on the trot but soon departed with the score reading 229/2.

However, Azam continued in his miraculous fashion with a marvellous strike-rate. He tormented the Aussie bowlers to bits and joined the list of century-scorers in the game. Eventually, he perished for a fantastic 114, with Pakistan still needing 41 runs to close in on the record run-chase.

Mohammad Rizwan also joined in with a handy 23-run knock, but the Khushdil Shah finish brought a sigh of relief into Pakistan's camp. Khushdil, in partnership with Iftikhar Ahmed, went past Australia's total as Pakistan chased the target in the penultimate over and levelled the series 1-1.

The two teams will now face off in the series decider, scheduled on April 2 at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore. 

Brief scores:

Australia- 348/8 (50 overs)

Ben McDermott 104 (108), Travis Head 89 (70)

Shaheen Shah Afridi 69/4;

Pakistan 352/4 (49 overs)

Babar Azam 114 (83), Imam-ul-Haq 106 (97);

Adam Zampa 71/2

Pakistan beat Australia by 6 wickets