DUBAI — Opener Babar Azam struck a half-century and leg-spinner Shadab Khan claimed three wickets as Pakistan secured a 3-0 T20 series whitewash over Australia with a 33-run victory here Sunday.

Azam’s 40-ball 50 lifted Pakistan to another challenging total of 150-5 before Shadab’s 3-19 helped bowl Australia out for 117 in 19.1 overs.

It is Pakistan’s first-ever whitewash against Australia in a limited-over series and their 10th series win under Sarfraz Ahmed since he took over as captain in September 2016.

Pakistan justified its world-number-one ranking in the shortest format of the game, following a 66-run thrashing in Abu Dhabi by an 11-run win in Dubai.

Australia’s batting attack never recovered from being bowled out for 89 in the first game.

Only Mitchell Marsh (21), Ben McDermott (21) and Alex Carey (20) looked like getting big scores Sunday against a varied Pakistan attack.

Carey, promoted to open the innings, smashed two fours and two sixes in Imad Wasim’s first over of the innings but they lost wickets at regular intervals.

Skipper Aaron Finch failed yet again, scoring only one while Chris Lynn (15) and Glenn Maxwell (four) also inflicted little damage as seamer Hasan Ali finished with 2-14.

Earlier, Azam scored his second fifty of the series after the hosts had won the toss and batted.

Azam and Sahibzada Farhan gave Pakistan an excellent start — their opening stand of 99 their highest against Australia in T20 Internationals — in 12.5 overs, but Pakistan could not capitalize on that start.

Farhan, dismissed for a first-ball duck in his only previous match against Australia in Harare in July, hit a 38-ball 39.

But after the openers, only Mohammad Hafeez managed to score freely during his 20-ball 32 not out.

Shoaib Malik scored 18 and became the second highest run scorer in T20 international history, passing New Zealand’s Brendon McCullum.

Another New Zealander Martin Guptill is the highest run scorer in Twenty20 international cricket with 2,271 in 75 matches — 118 more than Malik.

Pakistan next plays New Zealand in three Twenty20 Internationals, three ODIs and three Tests, starting with the first Twenty20 in Abu Dhabi Wednesday.

No change in team Pakistan’s selectors Monday kept the same winning combination against New Zealand for the three-match Twenty20 series.

No change means experienced pace spearheads Mohammad Amir and Wahab Riaz continued to be left out, while fast bowler Rumman Raees is still not fit after suffering a knee injury.

Meanwhile, New Zealand has added second specialist spinner to its Twenty20 squad, with left-armer Ajaz Patel drafted in from New Zealand A side.

Teams:

Pakistan: Sarfraz Ahmed (captain), Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Hafeez, Sahibzada Farhan, Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik, Asif Ali, Hussain Talat, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Usman Khan Shanwari, Hasan Ali, Imad Wasim, Waqas Maqsood and Faheem Ashraf.

New Zealand: Kane Williamson (captain), Corey Anderson, Mark Chapman, Lockie Ferguson, Colin de Grandhomme, Adam Milne, Colin Munro, Ajaz Patel, Glenn Phillips, Seth Rance, Tim Seifert, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee and Ross Taylor. — Agencies