Pakistan levels ODI series with 6-wicket win over Australia

Pakistan marched to 349-4 with an over to spare

Captain Babar Azam and Imam-ul-Haq smashed powerful centuries on Thursday as Pakistan leveled the three-match series against a depleted Australia with its biggest ever successful run-chase in an ODI.

Babar made a blistering 114 off 83 balls and Imam scored 106 as Pakistan marched to 349-4 with an over to spare for a six-wicket win.

Australia had earlier made another imposing total of 348-8 after Babar won the toss and elected to field for the second game in a row. Ben McDermott's (104) maiden test hundred formed the cornerstone of Australia's strong total.

Khushdil Shah scored an unbeaten 27 off 17 balls and Iftikhar Ahmed (8 not out) raised Pakistan's memorable victory with six balls to spare after Babar and Imam had dominated an inexperienced Australian bowling attack.

Travis Head (89) missed out on his second successive century while Marnus Labuschagne (59) and Marcus Stoinis (49) also played cameos to set up another challenging total for Pakistan after Australia had defended 313-7 in the first game of the three-match series.

The emphatic win broke Pakistan's 10-match losing streak against Australia, which is missing several leading players and only had 13 fit players to chose from after the white-ball squad in Lahore was hit by COVID-19.