Pak vs Aus: Green Shirts reach Hobart for third T20I against Aussies

HOBART: The Pakistani squad on Sunday reached Hobart for the third T20I of the ongoing three-match series against Australia.

According to the details, the national team arrived here today afternoon as they look to avoid the series whitewash by securing a consolation victory in the last fixture, scheduled here at Bellerive Oval on Monday.

The touring side, who registered a historic victory in the three-match ODI series, failed to deliver a similar performance in the ongoing T20I series.

Pakistan were blown away in the rain-reduced opening fixture on Thursday before succumbing to a narrow 13-run defeat in the second T20I in Sydney, which saw them dropping multiple catches.

During the post-match presentation, Pakistan captain Rizwan said dropping catches at crucial stages of the game hurt the touring side, highlighting the difficulty of taking 16 wickets – due to drop catches – against a strong team like Australia.

“If you drop crucial catches at crucial times, it will cost you always. Australia in Australia isn’t an easy team. If you give them chances like that and you have to get 16 wickets (due to the drops), it won’t be easy for any team,” said Rizwan.

The right-handed batter, who scored a scratchy 16 from 26 deliveries in the 148-run pursuit, also labelled the pitch difficult to bat on.

“We all know that the pitch wasn’t easy to bat on, so the catches were crucial,” he added.

PAK vs AUS T20I squads

Pakistan: Arafat Minhas, Babar Azam, Omair Yousuf, Irfan Khan, Agha Salman, Jahandad Khan, Haseebullah Khan, Mohammad Rizwan, Sahibzada Farhan, Usman Khan, Haris Rauf, Abbas Afridi, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Sufiyan Muqeem.

Australia: Tim David, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Mathew Short, Cooper Connolly, Aaron Hardie, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Sean Abbott, Josh Inglis, Xavier Bartlett, Spencer Johnson, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa.