‘We wanted to get a total on the board that we were comfortable with because the ball wasn’t coming onto the bat. The bowlers took wickets at the right time and kept the pressure on’

Pakistan’s stand-in captain Mohamed Hafeez hit a fighting fifty to set up a comprehensive six-wicket victory against Australia in the second one-day international yesterday that levelled the five-match series 1-1.
 Pakistan, who were whitewashed in the preceding Test series and lost the first ODI in Brisbane, reached their target with 14 balls to spare after their bowlers had bundled out the hosts for 220 in the penultimate over of their innings.
 It was the first win for Pakistan against Australia in Australia across all formats since their victory in an ODI at the WACA in January 2005.
 Mohamed Amir was the most successful Pakistan bowler with three wickets for 47 runs after left-arm fast bowling colleague Junaid Khan, playing his first ODI in over 19 months, put Australia on the backfoot by sending back the openers cheaply.
 Pakistan’s spinners, led by left-armer Imad Wasim (2-37), then bowled tightly on a sluggish Melbourne Cricket Ground pitch to keep Australia shackled. Australia captain Steve Smith top-scored for his side with 60 but a number of other batsmen got out after promising starts.
 Hafeez, who was not part of the original ODI squad and arrived in Australia as a late addition, was handed the captaincy after regular skipper Azhar Ali was ruled out with a hamstring injury. The right-handed opener struggled against Australia’s pacemen initially and Smith dropped him on nought in the slips off Mitchell Starc.
 Hafeez, who survived again on 55, batted fluently after his initial troubles and set up the chase with an opening stand of 68 with Sharjeel Khan (29) before a second-wicket partnership of 72 with Babar Azam (34).
 Experienced Shoaib Malik, who was given out caught behind off Pat Cummins on 10 but successfully overturned the decision on review, took over the responsibility of getting Pakistan home after they lost Hafeez and Azam in successive overs. Malik remained unbeaten on 42 after adding a crucial 53 for the fourth wicket with Asad Shafiq (13).
 The win was also Pakistan’s first ODI victory at the MCG since 1985.
 After Australian captain Smith chose to bat first on a flat-looking wicket, Pakistan’s opening fast bowling pair Amir and Junaid (2-40) bowled superbly to help restrict the home side. They were backed up by left-arm spinner Wasim, whose 10-over spell in the middle of the innings tied the batsmen down and slowed the scoring.
 The modest total never looked enough once Hafeez and fellow opener Sharjeel had put on 68 for the first wicket. Azam chipped in with 34 before Malik and Umar Akmal (18 not out) guided the visitors home with 2.2 overs to spare.
 “I think the bowlers did a great job for us,” said Hafeez, who was also named man-of-the-match. “We wanted to get a total on the board that we were comfortable with because the ball wasn’t coming onto the bat. The bowlers took wickets at the right time and kept the pressure on.”
 Australia went into the match without a recognised spinner and were made to pay the price on a two-paced wicket that favoured the slower bowlers. Their seam attack did its best to restrict the Pakistan batting, with Josh Hazelwood (0-32) the most impressive despite not taking a wicket, and James Faulkner (2-35) effective with his changes of pace.
 But the other bowlers were ineffective and expensive, with off-spinner Travis Head going for 23 runs off his 2.4 overs.
 Amir and Junaid Khan set the tone early with their impressive opening spells. Junaid, brought into the team in place of Wahab Riaz, induced an edge from the dangerous David Warner (16) to leave the Australians on 31-1.
 Junaid soon added the scalp of Usman Khawaja when he edged to first slip Sharjeel Khan, who took a fine catch low to his left.
 Australia promoted all-rounder Mitchell Marsh up the order but the experiment failed as he scooped the first ball he faced from Amir to Imad at cover to leave the home side 41 for three. Head then joined Smith in the middle and hit five boundaries on his way to 29 before he edged Hasan Ali to Mohamed Rizwan with Australia on 86 for four.
 Smith (60) brought up a hard-fought 50 from 91 balls with only two boundaries and no sixes, but with eight overs to go he got an inside edge onto his pads and then stumps to give Imad his second wicket.
 There was a steady procession of wickets until Faulkner skied a ball to point off Amir to leave Pakistan needing only 221 to level the series.
 Smith said the Australians had paid the price for attacking too early and losing key wickets before the spinners came on to bowl.
 “We were probably about 40 runs too short... I think the bowlers did a pretty good job of trying to contain them, but we just weren’t good enough today,” he said.

Scoreboard
Australia
U Khawaja c Sharjeel b Junaid    17
D Warner c Rizwan b Junaid    16
S Smith b Imad    60
M Marsh c Imad b Amir    0
T Head c Rizwan b Hasan    29
G Maxwell b Imad    23
M Wade b Malik    35
J Faulkner c Asad b Amir    19
M Starc (run out)    3
P Cummins c Rizwan b Amir    0
J Hazelwood (not out)    0
Extras (lb-7, w-11)    18
Total (all out, 48.2 overs)    220
Fall of wickets: 1-31 (Warner), 2-40 (Khawaja), 3-41 (Marsh), 4-86 (Head), 5-128 (Maxwell), 6-193 (Smith), 7-199 (Wade), 8-207 (Starc), 9-212 (Cummins), 10-220 (Faulkner)
Bowling: Amir 9.2-0-47-3 (1w), Junaid 8-0-40-2 (3w), Imad 10-0-37-2 (2w), Hasan 7-0-29-1, Hafeez 10-0-45-0 (1w), Malik 4-0-15-1
Pakistan
Sharjeel Khan c Wade b Faulkner    29
Md Hafeez c Hazelwood b Faulkner    72
Babar Azam c Hazelwood b Starc    34
Asad Shafiq c Wade b Starc    13
Shoaib Malik (not out)    42
Umar Akmal (not out)    18
Extras (lb-6, w-7)    13
Total (4 wickets, 47.4 overs)    221
Fall of wickets: 1-68 (Sharjeel), 2-140 (Babar), 3-142 (Hafeez), 4-195 (Shafiq)
Bowling: Starc 10-1-45-2 (2w), Hazelwood 10-2-32-0 (1w), Cummins 10-1-48-0 (1w), Faulkner 9-0-35-2, Head 2.4-0-23-0 (1w), Marsh 6-0-32-0 (2w)