Australia beat Pakistan in the second ODI on Friday by five-wickets to win the three-match series, thanks to all-rounder Glen Maxwell's splendid 76 off 81 deliveries against the hosts' spinners.
Australia has an unbeatable 2-0 lead in the series with the final match set for Abu Dhabi on Sunday. The win also ensured that Australia has not lost an ODI series against Pakistan since losing 2-1 at home in 2002.
Maxwell made Pakistan pay heavily for dropping him on 2 and combined in a match-winning 85-run fourth wicket stand with captain George Bailey (28) to guide Australia to 217-5 in 43.2 overs, Sport24 reported.
Pakistan had earlier let go of a terrific opening century-stand between Sarfraz Ahmed and Ahmed Shehzad to get bowled out for 215.
Bailey struggled against the spin trio of Zulfiqar Babar, who delivered match figures of 2 for 52, Shahid Afridi and Raza Hasan, but hung in with Maxwell to revive the run-chase after Pakistan got a sniff at 72-3.
Maxwell dominated the bowlers and hit nine fours and a six that included couple of his trademark reverse swept fours before he skied a catch off a slog sweep with Australia needing 38 runs for victory.
James Faulkner, who remained unbeaten on 26, and Brad Haddin, who remained unbeaten on 17, then guided Australia home without much problems.
Earlier, Ahmed top scored with 65 off 72 balls and Shehzad made 61 off 82 deliveries in Pakistan's first opening-wicket century stand in ODIs for 21 months. After putting 126 together off 151 balls, both openers fell to loose shots in successive overs.
Thereafter, Pakistan failed to get any momentum and they lost their last eight wickets for 85 runs, being bowled out in 49.3 overs.
Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq, who won the toss, continued with his lean batting form scoring just 15, being one of three batsmen to be run out.
Johnson, who removed Ahmed, went on to claim the key wickets of big-hitters Umar Akmal and Afridi cheaply as Pakistan kept on losing wickets with regular intervals.
Fawad Alam remained unbeaten on 20 off 39 balls, hitting a solitary boundary, as wickets kept falling around him until last man Mohammad Irfan was run out, the report added.
