3rd ODI : Carelessness costs Pakistan : Aussies lead 2-1.

In cricket, how do you recover after losing 2 wickets of successive balls not once not twice but thrice? Most often, you won't. and neither did Pakistan team today even though they had only 199 as victory target.95 run opening partnership between Salman Butt and 17 year old Shehzad Ahmed, Pakistan had a dream start at a run-rate well over asking rate. Salman Butt was caught at slip off a spinning delivery from Nathan Hauritz while Ahmed, playing only his second game, was bowled by Michael Clarke on 40 after playing some promising shots.Captain Younis Khan, vetern Misbah-ul-Haq and Shahid Afridi followed soon off careless shots as Pakistan fell from 95/0 to 123/5 inside 7 overs! Shoaib Mallik tried forming partnership with wicket keeper Kamran Akmal, then with Yasir Arafat, then tried Sohail Tanvir but no one stuck around with him long enough. Michael Clarke picked up 3 for 15 runs in his 6 overs while Andrew Symonds bowled 10 economical overs from other end to build pressure on home team. Nathan Hauritz, playing as main spinner of Aussie side, made his mark with figures of 10-3-25-2 which included prized wickets of opener Salman Butt and opposition captain Younis Khan.Earlier, Australians struggled their way to only 198, but more importantly, they lost only 7 wickets and played full quota of 50 overs. Consistent partnerships between openers, then Michael Clarke with youngster Callum Ferguson made sure Australians eat up enough delivery so that they post some respectable target. Aussies had their eyes set on smallish 220 around score, and were satisfied with 198 that they put up finally on a slow Abu Dhabi pitch.Mini Scorecard : Australia vs Pakistan : 3rd ODI :-Australia (elected to bat) = 198/7 in 50 oversM Clarke 66, C Ferguson 41, Gul 3/38, Afridi 3/31.Pakistan (target = 199) = 171/10 in 47.1 oversS Butt 48, S Ahmed 40, S Mallik 30, M Clarke 3/15.Full Scorecard : Aus vs Pak : 3rd ODI : Abu Dhabi45 : 28 is now the ratio of Australia vs Pakistan one day internationals from 77 games with a tied and 3 no result games. This was the second time Australia beat Pakistan in UAE after losing all 4 games played before!