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Dismal Aussies whitewashed in T20 series

Pakistan's cricketers celebrate at the end of the third T20 cricket match between Pakistan and Australia at The International Cricket Stadium in Dubai.

Pakistan's cricketers celebrate at the end of the third T20 cricket match between Pakistan and Australia at The International Cricket Stadium in Dubai. Photo: Getty

Australia has slumped to a grim whitewash defeat in the T20 series against Pakistan, losing the third and final game in Dubai by 33 runs.

Chasing 151 to win in the dead rubber, the tourists were bowled out for 117 with five balls to spare in a dismal ending to the tour of the UAE.

Aaron Finch’s men again proved no match for the world’s No.1-ranked T20 side, failing to build any substantial batting partnerships.

Australia promoted Alex Carey to open alongside Finch, and the decision looked like a stroke of genius when Carey belted 20 off the first over including two sixes.

But Finch holed out at mid on in the second over and wicketkeeper Carey followed in the third, squirting a Mohammad Hafeez delivery to Faheem Ashraf in the same spot.

Legspinner Shadab Khan had Chris Lynn caught at deep midwicket on 15, leaving the white-ball powerhouse without a score of note for the series.

The situation was even worse for Ben McDermott, whose nightmare tour continued when he was run out for the third time in as many games.

The Tasmanian was on 21 when he made a badly misjudged attempt at a quick single after pushing to cover, and Babar Azam’s quick collect left him a mile short.

Mitch Marsh (21), D’Arcy Short (10) and Glenn Maxwell (four), who passed a pre-game fitness test after tweaking his hamstring in the second game, fared little better.

“We just panicked a little bit again,” Finch said.

“Every time we’ve started to build a little bit of a partnership, we’ve lost a wicket. You lose momentum then and it’s hard to drag back.

“Any time you lose 28 wickets in three games in T20 cricket, that’s not going to win you many games at all. The partnerships are really important and we just didn’t manage to get any of them going throughout the whole series.”

Shadab (3-19) led the way for Pakistan’s bowlers, his dismissal of Marsh coming courtesy of a superb diving catch by Shoaib Malik at long on.

Young gun Babar was named man of the series after top-scoring for the hosts for the third straight game.

Babar scored 50 in a 93-run opening stand with Sahibzada Farhan as the hosts posted 5-150 from their 20 overs after winning the toss and electing to bat.

Pakistan raced to 0-54 off the powerplay before Short and Adam Zampa stemmed the bleeding with some disciplined spin bowling.

Recalled spinner Nathan Lyon dismissed Farhan on 39 to for his first ever T20 international wicket, while Marsh struck twice from his solitary late over.

But there was little for the tourists to celebrate as a weak batting performance again proved their downfall.

-AAP

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