Target 148 as Pakistan bowlers rattle Australia in 2nd T20I in Sydney

Pakistan pace battery led by lethal Haris Rauf rattled the Australian batting line-up after the hosts’ explosive start in the second T20I being played in Sydney today, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

Batting first after winning the toss, the Australian piled up 52 runs in just fourth over hitting Shaheeh Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah freely and without losing any wicket. But after that, they kept on struggling as the Pakistani bowlers ripped their line-up apart and they managed to score 147 runs for the loss of nine wickets in their allotted 20 overs.

Haris Rauf came as the first change and took two wickets in his first over, and by 15 overs Australia had lost six wickets with 115 runs on board. Haris Rauf took four wickets in his four overs. Abbas Afridi grabbed three wickets and spinner Sufiyan Muqeem got two.

Earlier, Australia captain Josh Inglis won the toss and chose to bat Saturday in the second game of the three-match T20 series against Pakistan at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

The hosts lead 1-0 after winning a rain-hit match reduced to seven overs a side in Brisbane on Thursday by 29 runs.

Australia are again without several top players -- who are preparing for the Test series against India which begins next week -- and named an unchanged side.

Pakistan, who won the preceding one-day series 2-1, made one change, with wrist spinner Sufiyan Muqeem replacing Haseebullah Khan

TEAMS

Pakistan: 1 Babar Azam, 2 Mohammad Rizwan (capt, wk), 3 Sahibzada Farhan, 4 Usman Khan, 5 Salman Agha, 6 Irfan Khan, 7 Abbas Afridi, 8 Shaheen Shah Afridi, 9 Haris Rauf, 10 Naseem Shah, 11 Sufiyan Muqeem

Australia: 1 Jake Fraser-McGurk, 2 Matt Short, 3 Josh Inglis (capt, wk), 4 Glenn Maxwell, 5 Tim David, 6 Marcus Stoinis, 7 Aaron Hardie, 8 Xavier Bartlett, 9 Nathan Ellis, 10 Adam Zampa, 11 Spencer Johnson

Umpires: Donovan Koch (RSA), Shaun Haig (NZL)

TV Umpire: Phillip Gillespie (AUS)

Match Referee: David Boon (AUS)