Pat Cummins-led Australia defeated Mohammad Rizwan’s Pakistan by a margin of two wickets in an action-packed first One-Day International of the three-match series on Monday, 4th of November at Cricket Ground of Melbourne. Aussie skipper Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Steven Smith and wicketkeeper batsman Josh Inglis played an important role for the home side as they took a 1-0 lead in the series by winning in the low-scoring thriller.
Pakistani seamer Haris Rauf was good with the ball for the visitors but the Shaheens were not able to put a high score on the board as the Mighty Australians chased down the target of 204 runs with two wickets to spare.
Having opted to field first after winning the toss on a tricky Melbourne wicket, Starc made an immediate impact as he dismissed opening batter Saim Ayub (1 run in 5 balls) in the 3rd over of the Pakistani inning. The left arm Aussie seamer carried on with his dominance as he struck again with the ball, dismissing the other opening batter Abdullah Shafique (12 runs in 26 balls) in the 7th over.
With the Shaheens sitting at a score of 24-2, experienced batter Babar Azam tried his best to turn things in favor of his team by playing a decent knock of 37 runs but he too was sent back to the dugout by leg spinner Adam Zampa.
The Green Shirts’ newly appointed skipper Mohammad Rizwan steadied the sinking ship of the tourists by playing a knock of 44 runs as his team finished their inning for a score of 203 runs in 46.4 overs as they got bundled our by the rampant bowling effort of the Aussies.
Mitchell Starc ended the match with figueres of 3-33 next to his name while the duo of Zampa & Cummins scalped two wickets a piece.
Skipper Pat Cummins helps his team secure the win with the help of a crucial 32-Run inning
Chasing a modest score of 204 runs, the home side started the chase on a poor note as they lost the opening duo of Jake Fraser-Mcgurk and Matthew Short on an early note. However, Josh Inglis and experienced batsman Steven Smith stitched an important partnership of 85 runs for the 3rd wicket before the former threw his wicket away to right arm fast bowler Haris Rauf on a score of 44 runs with the Kangaroos getting reduced to a score of 113-3.
Middle order batsman Marnus Labuschagne gave company to Inglis in the middle as they tried to get involved in a big partnership but Josh was dismissed after scoring 49 runs.Following the dismissal of Inglis, the Australians experienced a batting-collapse as the trip of Glenn Maxwell, Labuschagne and Aaron Hardie all gave their wickets away in quick-succession and the Pat Cummins-led team found themselves struggling at a score of 155-7.
But, bowling All-Rounder Sean Abbott played an important inning of 13 runs before getting run-out and captain Cummins helped his team get over the line by playing a match-winning inning of 32 runs in 31 deliveries.
The 2023 ODI World Cup winners will square off versus the Shaheens in the second One Day International on the 8th of November in the city of Adelaide.
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Scorecard: ESPNcricinfo
