What happened
Pakistan beat Australia by 90 runs in the second T20I at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium on 31 January 2026, taking an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series and sealing their first T20I series win over Australia since 2018. The margin was Pakistan’s biggest ever over Australia in the format, surpassing the 66-run win in Abu Dhabi in 2018, according to Dawn.
Put in to bat after captain Salman Ali Agha won the toss, Pakistan piled up 198 for 5 — their highest-ever T20I total against Australia. Agha led the way with a 40-ball 76, his highest score in the format, while Usman Khan smashed a 36-ball 53, his second T20I half-century. Pakistan Today recorded the same totals and credited a 55-run second-wicket stand between Agha and Saim Ayub (11-ball 23) and a 49-run fourth-wicket stand between Agha and Usman Khan.
Babar Azam fell for a five-ball two and Sahibzada Farhan went for five in the second over, but the middle order kept the scoreboard moving. Agha smashed four sixes and eight fours in his sixth Twenty20 half-century, and Shadab Khan finished unbeaten on a 20-ball 28, adding 63 with Usman off just 39 balls. Pakistan added 61 in the last five overs to clear 190.
How Australia were bowled out
Australia’s chase never took shape. Abrar Ahmed returned the day’s best figures of 3 for 14, Shadab Khan took 3 for 26, and the five-man spin attack shared all ten wickets as the tourists were routed for 108 in 15.4 overs. Cameron Green’s 20-ball 35 was the highest score; captain Mitchell Marsh made 18, Josh Inglis five, and Matthew Short 27. Pakistan Today noted that only Marsh and Xavier Bartlett (10) reached double figures beyond Green and Short.
Dawn recorded that Agha introduced Abrar into the attack in just the third over after Marsh and Travis Head took on the quicks, and the move paid off immediately: a loogy leg break trapped Marsh in front, and a wrong’un beat Inglis’s reverse sweep to leave Australia 35 for 2. Pakistan Today reported the same sequence and credited Abrar with dismissing Marsh, Inglis and Short.
Reaction and what it means
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif congratulated the team on what he called a “phenomenal performance” in the T20I series, lauding the players, the team management and Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Mohsin Naqvi. Naqvi urged the side to keep the intensity up ahead of the 2026 T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka from 7 February.
Agha, asked whether the side could peak for the World Cup after two heavy wins, said the side would “forget the 2-0 scoreline” and treat the final match on 1 February with the same intensity. Marsh conceded that Pakistan “outplayed us”, and said 160–170 would have been a defendable total on the surface.
The third and final T20I is scheduled at the same venue on 1 February.
Sources & reporting notes
This article is a synthesis of two contemporaneous match reports. Sources were reviewed on 31 January 2026.
- Dawn — "Pakistan overpower Australia to clinch T20I series"31 January 2026 · Primary for the match report, the Agha post-match quote, the PM Shehbaz and Naqvi statements, and the ten-wicket spin breakdown.
- Pakistan Today — "Pakistan thrash Australia by 90 runs to clinch T20I series after seven-year wait"31 January 2026 · Independent reporting on the same result, with the second-wicket and fourth-wicket partnership detail and the bowler-by-bowler dismissal breakdown.
