‘Wreck-it Rauf’ inspires Pakistan's drought-breaking series win in Australia
Wasim Akram proclaimed Pakistan's seam bowling quartet to be the greatest current bowling attack in the world at present, and whilst his parochial comments may have raised some eyebrows Down Under, his assessment was right on the money.
For the second time in three days, Pakistan captain Mohammad Rizwan chose to bowl at the toss and utilised just four bowlers to humble two vastly different Australian batting orders before his opening batters ensured the door was never open for the home nation.
On display was a clear change in tactics in the field from Rizwan compared with the old regime under Babar Azam and that was to go for the kill by continuing to cleverly rotate the four fast bowlers through the 25 overs in Adelaide and 31 in Perth rather than handing the ball to part-time fifth bowler Salman Ali Agha with the mindset that they would not have to bowl the full 50 overs.
There was hope from an Australian perspective that turning over half of the playing XI - five members of the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy squad didn’t make the trip to Perth - would dramatically alter the result, particularly with some of the draftees wanting to make a case for a trip to the Champions Trophy next January.
On the contrary, so little changed in terms of the Australian output and the consequences that followed, that only the backdrop of the Perth Stadium assured viewers that they weren’t watching a replay of Friday’s series-levelling game.
It became inexplicably eerie when Adam Zampa dropped a sitter at fine leg during the 14th over, with the opening partnership still intact, making the same mistake he did in the 15th over of the second ODI when spilling a simple catch when Saim Ayub was on 45.
That was a few hours after Player of the Series Haris Rauf came on to break Australia’s most promising partnership of their innings, which just three overs later was followed up with Rauf’s third straight cheap dismissal of Glenn Maxwell.
“Everyone knows Maxi is a superstar and a legend so I was lucky to get him three times in the series,” said Rauf of his Melbourne Stars teammate and captain who no doubt would have helped to nurture the knowledge of bowling in Australia that was so valuable for Rauf and his teammates during the week.
This defeat was especially painful for Perth-born and bred 21-year-old Cooper Connolly, who had to retire hurt after facing just 16 deliveries with a suspected broken hand, whilst Shaheen Shah Afridi bowled in discomfort after he was hit in the thumb on his bowling hand by an erratic return from the outfield.
Connolly had been selected for the imminent T20I series which begins in Brisbane on Thursday night local time but he was ruled out of the series after scans revealed a fracture in his left hand.