LAHORE: Pakistan captain Babar Azam lauded the team effort for having registered a comprehensive six-wicket victory against Australia here at the Gadaffi stadium to level the three-match ODI series on Thursday.
Chasing 349, Pakistan got off to a very solid start as the openers Fakhar Zaman and Imam-ul-Haq put on 118 runs for the first wicket in a brilliant opening stand. But the wicket brought Babar Azam to the crease, and he played another superb ODI innings as he formed a 111-run partnership with Imam.
"The plan was to bat positively and bat in partnerships. When there are wickets in hand, it becomes easy towards the end and there won't be any pressure of the required rate. We gave 20 runs too many and hopefully we will do better in the next game," said Babar Azam in a post-match presentation.
"This is my hometown and it is a proud moment for me and the team. The overall effort from the team is very pleasing. Last time we couldn't chase it down and today it was a complete team effort," he added.
For Pakistan Iftikhar Ahmed sent the winning runs to the rope with six balls and six wickets to spare, setting up a decider in the third and final ODI.
Earlier, Ben McDermott's first century helped Australia to a sizeable 348/8. Australia built well on the platform set by McDermott and Head, with Marnus Labuschagne hitting 59 from 49 and Marcus Stoinis smashing 49 from 33.
But the chances of boosting the score up 300s were stopped by Afridi, who took three wickets in the last five overs to restrict the score to 348/8, with Afridi finishing with stand-out figures of 4/63.