Pakistan win an international series in Australia after 22 years
Perth, Nov 10: Pakistan achieved its first win over Australia in a 50-overs series in Australia since 2002 when it won the deciding third one-day international Sunday by eight wickets.
Australia's under-strength batting lineup folded in the face of hostile bowling from Pakistan's pace attack and was all out for 140 in 31.5 overs.
The home team was without captain Pat Cummins, Steven Smith, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Marnus Labuschagne, all of whom were rested to prepare for the first of five tests against India that begins in Perth on Nov. 22.
Saim Ayub (42) and Abdullah Shafique (37) then gave Pakistan's chase a solid foundation in an 84-run opening partnership before both fell in the same over, bowled by Lance Morris.
That left Babar Azam and captain Mohammad Rizwan to steer Pakistan to an important victory. The pair put on a further 58 for the third wicket before Babar ended the chase in the 27th over when he hit Adam Zampa for four to take Pakistan to 143-2.
Pakistan won with 139 balls to spare.
“This is a special moment for me because we know our nation will be happy,” Rizwan said. “They don't always get what they expect from us as a team. Today we are happy as a team because our nation will be happy.”
The Pakistan pacemen have dominated the series since Australia won the opening match by two wickets in Melbourne. Pakistan leveled the series when it won the second match by nine wickets in Adelaide when Australia was bowled out for 163 with Haris Rauf taking 5-29.
As a result, Rizwan had no hesitation in choosing to bowl when the he won the toss Sunday. Naseem Shah dismissed Jake Fraser-McGurk in the fourth over, Rauf dismissed Aaron Hardie in the seventh and Shaheen Shah Afridi removed Aidan Hardie in the 11th and from there Australian wickets fell at regular intervals.
Shaheen finished with 3-32, Naseem took 3-34 and Rauf took 2-24 from seven overs as Australia was bowled out for its lowest total at home in a decade.
The Australia batters looked particularly vulnerable against the short ball on a lively pitch and allrounder Cooper Connolly retired hurt on 7 after being struck in the hand by Mohammad Hasnain.
Fraser-McGurk and Short struggled for form in the first two matches, sharing partnerships of 19 in the first match and 21 in the second. They started positively this time, taking 12 runs from the first over but were separated with the total on 20 when Fraser-McGurk was caught at second slip by Rizwan from Naseem's bowling.
Hardie reached 12 from 13 balls when he also edged to second slip from Shaheen, who caused a ball to nip away off the seam.
Josh Inglis captained Australia for the first time in his home town and came to the crease after learning he had been included in Australia's 13-man squad for the first test against India. His celebrations were cut short when he skied an attempted pull off Naseem to Rizwan when on 7.
“It's disappointing. We just didn't get enough runs on the board,” Inglis said.
Short grafted his way to 22 from 30 balls and then picked out square leg from Rauf's bowling when Australia was 72-4. Connolly retired hurt with the total on 79 and Glenn Maxwell also fell to Rauf on that total for a duck.
The rest followed in procession but for Sean Abbott who made a defiant 30 from 41 balls and had support from Spencer Johnson who finished 12 not out.
Sunday's win was a major confidence boost to Pakistan as it prepares to host the ICC Champions Trophy tournament early next year.
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Rupee falls 1 paisa to all-time low of 84.40 against US dollar in early trade
Mumbai, Nov 13 (PTI) The rupee slipped 1 paisa to an all-time low of 84.40 against the US dollar in early trade on Wednesday, as persistent foreign fund outflows and a muted trend in domestic equities weighed on the local unit.
Forex traders said the USDINR pair has shown significant volatility in recent sessions, with the rupee inching closer to its all-time low of 84.40. This downward pressure is largely driven by global factors, particularly the Dollar Index’s strengthening.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 84.40 against the greenback, registering a fall of 1 paisa over its previous close.
On Tuesday, the rupee fell 1 paisa to a new lifetime low of 84.39 against the US dollar.
"It appears that the rupee has established support around the current levels, with depreciation limited near 84.50," CR Forex Advisors MD Amit Pabari said.
Pabari further added that the RBI stands tall as the depreciation in the rupee seems to be limited as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) continues to sell the dollars to protect the sharp depreciation.
"For the 5th consecutive week, India’s forex reserves declined, possibly due to RBI selling the dollars. Currently, the forex reserves of India stand at USD 682 billion down from the recent all-time high of USD 704 billion," he said.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading lower by 0.04 per cent at 105.98.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, rose 0.25 per cent to USD 72.07 per barrel in futures trade.
On the domestic equity market front, Sensex was trading 210.66 points, or 0.27 per cent lower, to 78,464.52 points. The Nifty fell 100.45 points, or 0.42 per cent, to 23,783.00 points.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital markets on Tuesday, as they offloaded shares worth Rs 3,024.31 crore, according to exchange data.
On the macroeconomic front, retail inflation breached the Reserve Bank's upper tolerance level, soaring to a 14-month high of 6.21 per cent in October mainly on account of rising food prices.
Inflation based on the consumer price index (CPI) was 5.49 per cent in September and 4.87 per cent in the year-ago month.
India's industrial production expanded by 3.1 per cent in September after recording a contraction in the preceding month, as all three major segments -- mining, manufacturing, and power generation -- showed improvement.
However, the growth in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) during the month was lower than 6.4 per cent registered in September 2023.
