Watch cricket highlights - Pakistan vs Australia - 2nd ODI highlights
Scoreline: Pakistan 207 all out - Shahid Afridi 41, Shoaib Akhtar 25 (14), Salman Butt 57 (112)
Aus make it home in 45.1 overs. Andrew Symonds 58, James Hopes 48
It’s easy to look at Salman Butt and think - Oh, he was the topscorer. But it was pretty much a pointless innings with hardly any intent apart from sending the Pakistan innings into comatose. Only some super hitting by Shoaib and Afridi gave Pakistan something to bowl at. Afridi came out in this game looking to play a responsible innings especially after his early reprieve, but only ended up making viewers all the more nervous with his nudges and pushes. Luckily he discarded that pretty soon and injected some momentum into the game.
The spin bowlers like in the 1st ODI appeared to have swung the game Pakistan’s way but the ease with which Symonds changed the game was quite remarkable. A super knock by a super player. Would have preferred to have watched him in IPL action for the Deccan Chargers alongside Gibbs, Gilchrist and Afridi (in an ideal world), but that’s ok I suppose.
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