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AUSTRALIA have slumped to a whitewash defeat in the T20 series against Pakistan, losing the third and final game in Dubai by 33 runs.
Chasing 151 to win in the dead rubber, the tourists were bowled out for 117 with five balls to spare in a dismal ending to the tour of the UAE.
Aaron Finch’s men again proved no match for the world’s No.1-ranked T20 side, failing to build any substantial batting partnerships.
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The tourists promoted Alex Carey to open alongside Finch, and the decision looked like a stroke of genius when Carey belted 20 off the first over including two sixes.
But Finch holed out at mid on in the second over and wicketkeeper Carey followed in the third, squirting a Mohammad Hafeez delivery to Faheem Ashraf in the same spot.
Leg-spinner Shadab Khan had Chris Lynn caught at deep midwicket on 15, leaving the white-ball powerhouse without a score of note for the series. The situation was even worse for Ben McDermott, whose nightmare tour continued when he was run out for the third time in as many games.
The Tasmanian made a badly misjudged attempt at a quick single after pushing to cover on 21 and Babar Azam’s quick collect left him a mile short.
Glenn Maxwell (four), who pbaded a pre- game fitness test after tweaking his hamstring in the second game, Mitch Marsh (21) and D’Arcy Short (10) fared little better.
Shadab (3-19) led the way for Pakistan’s bowlers, while opening batsman Babar again tormented the tourists with a clbady half-century.
“We just panicked a little bit again,” Finch said.
“Every time we’ve started to build a little bit of a partnership, we’ve lost a wicket. You lose momentum then and it’s hard to drag back.
“Any time you lose 28 wickets in three games in T20 cricket, that’s not going to win you many games at all. The partnerships are really important and we just didn’t manage to get any of them going throughout the whole series.”
Babar scored 50 in a 93-run opening stand with Sahibzada Farhan as the hosts posted 5-150 from their 20 overs after winning the toss and electing to bat.
Pakistan raced to 0-54 off the powerplay before Short and Adam Zampa stemmed the bleeding with some disciplined spin bowling.
Babar top-scored for the hosts for the third straight game before falling to Andrew Tye while Hafeez finished 32 not out.
Recalled spinner Nathan Lyon claimed his first ever T20 international wicket when Farhan sliced to Tye at long off, cutting short an innings in which he struck three sixes.
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