Maxwell's power-hitting and Australia pace flatten Pakistan

Brisbane, Nov. 15: Glenn Maxwell's robust 43 off 19 balls helped Australia thump Pakistan by 29 runs in a rain-shortened first Twenty20 on Thursday.

After a nearly three-hour delay due to lightning and rain, the match was shortened to seven overs per side. Maxwell powered Australia to 93-4 and Pakistan reached only 64-9 after slumping to 16-5 inside the first 15 balls.

Nathan Ellis (3-9) and Xavier Bartlett (3-13) ran through the top order before No. 8 batter Abbas Afridi's unbeaten 20.

"Certainly had a lot of fun out there," Maxwell said. "We thought we had enough on the board … the bowlers did a great job. There was a few of us who had packed our bags expecting the game to be called off, so it was a mad rush to get ready."

Maxwell followed scores of 0, 16, 0 in the preceding one-day international series won by Pakistan 2-1 by smacking three sixes and five boundaries. He played some extravagant lap shots to third man against the pace of Haris Rauf (1-21) and Naseem Shah (1-37).

Maxwell fell in the penultimate over when he hooked Abbas Afridi (2-9) to backward square leg but Marcus Stoinis provided a final flourish with an unbeaten 21 off seven balls. Stoinis smashed 20 runs in Shah's last over with two fours and six.

None of the top six Pakistan batters reached double figures.

Varma gives India lead

Tilak Varma hit a maiden international century as India beat South Africa by 11 runs in the third Twenty20 international at SuperSport Park on Wednesday.

The 22-year-old left-hander made an unbeaten 107 off 56 balls in an Indian total of 219-6.

South Africa were restricted to 208-7, giving India an unbeatable 2-1 lead in the four-match series.

Sri Lanka go 1-0 up 

Kusal Mendis and Avishka Fernando both slammed centuries to set up a convincing 45-run victory for Sri Lanka in the rain-interrupted first one-day international against New Zealand on Wednesday.

Kusal, 29, struck a career-best 143 and Avishka hit 100 as Sri Lanka posted a commanding 324-5 in 49.2 overs before rain stopped play.

New Zealand, chasing a revised target of 221 off 27 overs, were restricted to 175-9 in the day-night game played at Dambulla.

It was Maheesh Theekshana who triggered the collapse with the wickets of openers Will Young and Tim Robinson, who shared an 88-run stand off just 79 balls. (AP)