Pakistan vs Australia Man of the Series: The Australian batter has won his maiden series award for the first time in his 22nd series.
Advertisement
During the fifth day of the third Test of the ongoing Australia’s tour of Pakistan in Lahore, Australia beat Pakistan by 115 runs to register a 1-0 series victory. A grueling couple of draws despite both the teams playing well needed to be followed by a victory for a drawn series score would’ve been unfair to a hard 15-day toil in this series.
Chasing a 351-run target, Pakistan failed to make the most of a 77-run opening partnership between Abdullah Shafique (27) and Imam-ul-Haq (70) to get bundled out for 235 in 92.1 overs. As far as Day 5 is concerned, the hosts lost all their 10 wickets for 162 runs.
Captain Babar Azam (55) was Pakistan’s solitary hope in the final session but even he couldn’t prevent a loss in spite of receiving a reprieve in the previous session.
While Australia captain Pat Cummins (15.1-6-23-3) picked crucial wickets including the last one of Naseem Shah (1), it was spinner Nathan Lyon who played a titular role in an overseas victory on the back of bowling figures of 37-8-83-5.
From dismissing Pakistan’s best batters today in Imam and Azam to picking lower-order wickets of Hasan Ali (13) and Shaheen Shah Afridi (5), Lyon delivered the exact of what was expected out of a lead spinner on a final day pitch.
Pakistan vs Australia Man of the Series
Considering the manner in which he batted throughout the series, no one other than Australia batter Usman Khawaja deserved to win the ‘Man of the Series’ today. In five innings, Khawaja amassed 496 runs at a mind-blowing average of 165.33 including two centuries and half-centuries each.
Player of the Series is Usman Khawaja! #PAKvAUS https://t.co/WViJ4JD64U
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) March 25, 2022
“We’ve had a lot of fun. Want to thank Pakistan, the fans. The boys would agree. The food’s been great. Winning today has been the icing on the cake. I think 350 [351] with four sessions was a pretty good target. I knew how tough it was batting there. It was the hardest wicket I batted on. Was the hardest hundred I got,” Khawaja told PTV during the post-match presentation ceremony.
Khawaja, who won his first maiden Test series award, has been in phenomenal form since his return to the format this year. In nine Test innings in 2022, Khawaja’s 751 runs have come at an average of 125.16 with the help of four centuries and two half-centuries.
