Pakistan vs Australia, 5th match at Harare, Jul 05 2018 - Ball by Ball Commentary

Thanks for joining us. Hope to see you tomorrow for Zimbabwe-Australia. Until then, this is Shashank Kishore saying goodbye.

Sarfraz Ahmed: Credit to Fakhar. He was superb. Today's surface wasn't the easiest. Asif Ali and Shoaib Malik did a job for us too. Afridi has been part of the last two-three series, so we wanted to give him an opportunity. Glad he did well."

Fakhar Zaman is the Player of the Match for his 42-ball 73

Aaron Finch: We didn't get going all day, long way off with the ball and on the field, couldn't then get any partnerships with the bat. This was a 170 wicket, we let them get away, our fielding was sloppy as well. They stuck to basic plans and did well. You'd like to keep winning, couldn't but have a short turnaround time.

1.20pm Having beaten Pakistan comfortably in their first meeting, the Australians put in an unfocused performance, dropping far too short with the new ball after Finch sent Sarfraz Ahmed's side in to bat to allow Fakhar Zaman to fire off a succession of pull shots on his way to the highest score of the match. They then lost a series of early wickets to the late moving ball in the hands of Faheem Ashraf and the 18-year-old left-armer Shaheen Afridi.

D'arcy Short struggled upfront, denying them any momentum. Glenn Maxwell's woeful run of form meant there was just too much pressure on the lower order. Carey did his reputation no harm, but in the end, just not enough fuel in the tank. Faheem was excellent with the new ball, while Shadab and Usman manned the middle overs expertly.

Australia could've moved up to No. 1 in the T20I rankings had they chased this down, but they weren't let off the blocks by a very disciplined Pakistan attack that has now taken momentum with them into the final. What do Australia do? Make changes against Zimbabwe tomorrow or stick to their best XI, which clearly lacked the spark today, and try and win it comprehensively? Having completed their league engagements, Pakistan can enjoy the cold and relax for a couple of days in preparation for the grand finale

Misbah Uddin : "Comprehensive win after big defeat, well done Pakistan "

Aussie: "Short needs to be replaced by Carey as opener , he is chewing up to many balls and not producing enough boundaries . He looks so shaky in the first few overs , time to let him go the Langer way as far as LOIs are concerned"