Pakistani speedster Haris Rauf has been firing on all cylinders in the ongoing white-ball series against the mighty Australians. His fiery thunderbolts and excellent precession with the ball have left the Australian batters huffing and puffing for breath. He finished the ODI series as the top-wicket taker bagging 10 wickets at a stunning average of 12. Moreover, his ability to generate swing through the air at an express pace made him a far more lethal prospect as opposed to his counterparts Shaheen, Naseen, and Hasnain.

Rauf has carried his lethal form into the ongoing T20I series where he still continues to wreak unbelievable havoc on the Australian batters. Although being enormously expensive in the first T20I, Rauf managed to make a comeback and star with the ball in the second T20I. His figures of 4-22 helped Pakistan curtail the initial onslaught from the Aussie openers as the home side came crashing down from 48-0 after 3 overs to 147-9 after 20 overs, all thanks to Rauf's sheer brilliance with the ball.

But despite a spirited bowling from Rauf and the rest of the bowling department, Pakistan failed to deliver with the bat and fell short by 14 runs in the last over. 

Here is how Rauf owned the Australian batters at the SCG

Pakistan's pace bowling combination Shaheen and Naseem got off to the worst possible start and received some terrible pounding at the hands of Matthew Short and Fraser-McGurk. Rauf was introduced into the attack when the scoreboard read 48-0 and with 17 overs to go, Australia looked all set for a colossal first-innings score in excess of 200 at the minimum. 

But as fate would have it, Australia only managed to add a mere 99 runs to their total after the initial burst from their openers thanks to some gutsy fightback from Rauf, Abbas, and Muqeem. The trio not only managed to keep the run flow down but also managed to strike deadly blows to dent Australia at every phase of the innings. 

Haris Rauf in particular was the pick of the bunch as he went on to register his career-best T20I figures of 4-22 against Australia. He immediately left an impact in his very first over by dismissing Fraser-McGurk and the skipper Inglis in quick succession inside his first over to get Pakistan into the game. And subsequently, the paceman also struck in the dying phases of Australia's innings removing David and Bartlett when they were trying to push the scoring rate. With added support from Abbas and Muqeem, the bowlers were able to pull things back and restrict Australia to a score that was certainly gettable on a track like SCG. 

It really is Haris Rauf's series 🤣 #AUSvPAK pic.twitter.com/I4YkA7i7Eq

— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) November 16, 2024

What was more impressive about Rauf today was the agility he displayed on the field. Despite, bowling his heart out, Rauf was happy to throw himself around the field to make vital stops, such as the one in the above video where he made a desperate diving attempt to prevent a certain boundary for his side. 

Pakistan's poor show with the bat cost them the series

Despite a stellar show with the ball, Pakistani batters were not equal to the task tonight. The Pakistani top order failed to put up any resistance of sorts as Babar and Farhan were removed for single-digit scores while the skipper Rizwan consumed far too many deliveries to score just 16 runs at a strike rate of only 61.53. Although Usman Khan stitched a valiant stand of 58 runs with Irfan to revive the run chase. However,  his departure brought a swift downfall for the visitors as wickets kept tumbling at an alarming rate thus preventing Pakistan failed to prevail in what appeared to be a modest run chase. 

Following the defeat in Sydney, Rizwan and his men have lost the T20I series as Pakistan still searches for their elusive maiden T20I win in Australia. With the final T20I scheduled to be played in Hobart on Monday, Pakistan would hope for a much-improved performance across all departments and aim for a consolation win to conclude their memorable white-ball tour on a high.  

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Australia's young batting brigade has come under immense fire as the home side suffered an unimaginable series defeat against the Men in Green for the first time in the ODI format since 2002. Some fiery exhibition of fast bowling from Haris Rauf, Shaheen Afridi, and Naseem Shah reduced the all-might Aussie batting lineup to rubbles as Australia were bowled out for less than 180 in the remaining two ODIs. The obvious reason for their swift downfall can be pointed out to their paltry batting which led to their undoing in the series.

The Australia batting department experienced some new lows in that series. This 1-2 series defeat also marks the first instance where none of the Aussie batters failed to register a fifty or fifty-plus score. 

Hussey dissects the underlying reason behind Australia's catastrophic batting failure

Former Australia cricketer and sports commentator Michael Hussey commented on air about the players' inclination towards playing an aggressive brand of T20 cricket. He highlighted that the heavy-risk brand of cricket has infiltrated the Aussie batting lineup. Due to the high proliferation of franchise cricket, their batters have now become more susceptible to getting out in a rash manner. 

“Playing a lot of T20 cricket and seeing what’s happening around the world, batters these days are going really hard – playing high-risk games. When it comes off, it looks great and it’s exciting for everyone to watch. But when it doesn’t in the face of high-quality bowling, you can get exposed.”

It has been a go-to strategy, especially for the likes of Josh Inglis and Jake Fraser-McGurk to go all out from ball number one in the recently concluded three-match series. This strategy can do wonders on some days while on other days, it can backfire. The 49-year-old urges the youngsters to adopt a slightly different approach to 50-over cricket and shift their focus on converting small starts into big scores. 

“You’ve got a bit of time, you can build that innings … turn that 20-30 into a 50-60 and then hopefully an 80-100, but that’s part of the development. 50 overs is sort of that in-between game … you do have a bit more time.” 

Michael Vaughan shell-shocked after witnessing Australia's horror show with the bat

Former England captain Michael Vaughan shared the same concerns as his counterpart Hussey and admitted that he had never ever seen the Aussie batting lineup crumble against such a high-quality seam attack. Vaughan felt that the potent Pakistan pace attack troubled the batters with swing and pace, although not being express pace, to lose all 20 wickets under 200 in both games was simply unthinkable by his standards. 

“Let’s be honest, for three games I don’t remember seeing an Australian batting lineup look so exposed.” Three games on the trot against a bit of pace, a bit of movement – it’s not express, it’s not rapid. But they’ve been completely exposed.”

Following the conclusion of a highly entertaining ODI series, the focus now moves to the T20I series that will commence on November 14 at the Gabba. Some big names from the Australian camp will be missing as the likes of Cummins, Starc, and Hazlewood are all but away to prepare for the upcoming Border Gavaskar Trophy that will start on November 22. 

See also: Australian squad announced for Perth Test with two potential Test debutants

After narrowly missing out in the first ODI in Melbourne, the Men in Green roared back in form in the second ODI to hammer Australia left, right, and center at the Adelaide Oval. Haris Rauf was the demolition man for Pakistan as his fiery spell of fast bowling decimated the 2023 ODI World Cup champions for a paltry 163. The speedster bagged his best bowling figures of 5-29 against Australia and accounted for the dismissals of  Inglis, Labuschagne, Hardie, Maxwell, and Cummins.

After bamboozling Australia for such a below-par total, the chase was all too easy for the Rizwan-led Pakistan side as Ayub and Shafique smashed a century-plus opening stand for the first wicket to help Pakistan set the tone for a massive victory. In the end, Pakistan got to their required target of 164 with nine wickets and 23 overs to spare. This win was also their first win on Australian shores since 2017 and their first ever at the Adelaide Oval since 1996.

See also: Josh Inglis named as the temporary captain for the white-ball series against Pakistan

So what did Pakistan manage to achieve? 

Following their emphatic nine-wicket win in Adelaide, Pakistan have stumbled upon a prod record. The Green Shirts have left behind the likes of India and Sri Lanka to become the only Asian team with the most number of wins in ODIs against Australia in their own backyard. They have now registered 18 wins in 54 matches against the Kangaroos in their own turf. This was also their 35th ODI against Australia in this format.   

India and Sri Lanka on the other hand have only managed to secure 14 and 16 wins respectively whereas Afghanistan and Bangladesh are yet to feature in an ODI match against Australia down under. 

What does the win mean for the team?

Following their emmphatic nine-wicket win, it goes without saying that the Pakistan team was extremly elated after delivering such a ground-breaking performance against a tough Australian team. Pakistan, under the new leadership of Mohammed Rizwan found a way to play with an attacking approach which took the hosts by storm. 

Rizwan lauded the bowlers for delivering such an impressive win and expressed that such a big win gives his side the confidence to do a lot better in the coming days. 

"Obviously this win gives us confidence. We want to keep that confidence going. All bowlers had plans and they worked well."

With the series now level at 1-1, the stage is set for an intense showdown at Perth where the two sides will lock horns yet again in what appears to be an enthralling decider.