Ben McDermott

Playing with more urgency than in game one, Pakistan made the most of batting-friendly conditions and a second string Australian attack which struggled against ...

Unlike in the first game, where he seemed to be in cruise control, Babar played with bravado marked by a miscued slog sweep off legspinner Adam Zampa that still sailed for six. But the fans quickly regained their voice with the entry of Babar, who was in glorious form from the get go and pierced the gaps with ease. After notching his 15th ODI century, where he memorably celebrated with a leap and loud roar, Babar became the first Pakistan captain to score an ODI ton against Australia. Fakhar was in a belligerent mood but out of nowhere Stoinis bowled him with a pearler of a slower delivery that gripped and clipped off stump to leave the crowd stunned. And they will rue losing late wickets with the bat after looking set for a total near 400. Pakistan produced theirhighest successful chase in ODIsto win game two by six wickets with six balls to spare.

Labuschagne struck a half-century while Stoinis got 49 to help the visitors dominate against Pakistan.

However, an aggressive finish from Marcus Stoinis (49 off 33) and Sean Abbott (28 off 16) with the pair scoring 25 off over 48 and 49 had Australia finish on a high. Zahid Mehmood was inconsistent with his lengths, bowling too many loose deliveries conceding 71 in his 10 as Labuschagne and McDermott piled on the runs for a 74-run stand in 63 balls. The pair went on to not just stabilise, but turn the game around as Australia's scoring rate didn't recede and fall below 6.

Ben McDermott's maiden ODI century for Australia has proved in vain as captain Babar Azam masterminded Pakistan's masterful record run chase in a thrilling ...

But the Pakistan chase, McDermott conceded, was just much better paced than their slow-starting effort on Tuesday with Imam, who scored a ton in the first match, and Fakhar Zaman putting on 118 for the first wicket before the Babar show. McDermott, who got into a heated verbal exchange with the fired-up Afridi, took 12 balls to get off the mark, but unleashed after that to finish with 10 fours and four sixes, while Head cracked six fours and five sixes. Pursuing Australia’s formidable total of 8-348 in Thursday’s second match of the series, Imam-ul-Haq cracked his second century in three days and Babar hammered a 73-ball ton to fashion Pakistan’s highest-ever successful ODI run pursuit.

He's close to completing one of the best summers of his career, but Ben McDermott still believes he wouldn't be in the Australia's first-choice side if not ...

"I've had a lot of opportunities in international cricket now. I'm pretty new to the international ODI scene," McDermott said post-match. "It would have been really nice to finish off with the win tonight but obviously it's great to get a 100 and one of those milestones that my father did in the past." "I did hear that at the innings break and it did feel a lot better," McDermott said of the symmetry between he and his father's milestone's. "I probably didn't get off to the start that I would've liked but ended up catching up towards the back end of our powerplay and in the middle as well. "It's really good to get an opportunity and even better when you probably weren't supposed to be in the playing 11 … I probably wasn't even in that team that was going to start.