Pakistan kicked off their limited-overs tour of Australia on November 4, with the first ODI being held at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground. Australian captain Pat Cummins won the toss and opted to bowl, a decision that quickly paid off. Mitchell Starc set the tone with a maiden over and then claimed two wickets within the first seven overs of Pakistan’s innings. Adam Zampa then broke a steady 39-run stand between Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan by castling Babar.
Pat Cummins deceived Kamran Ghulam with an unplayable bouncer
Following this, debutant Kamran Ghulam took to the crease and scored his first ODI runs by hitting a boundary on his second ball. In the very next over, Australian captain Pat Cummins came into the attack, and Ghulam seemed to be struggling against him. Cummins delivered a sharp bouncer that Ghulam misjudged, attempting an awkward jump to defend. The ball rose more than expected, clipping his gloves and landing straight into keeper Josh Inglis’s hands.
Kamran Ghulam had scored a century on his Test debut against England, but in his ODI debut, he managed only 5 runs. After his dismissal, Pakistan’s batting lineup started to falter. Thanks to tailender Naseem Shah’s resilient 40 runs, Pakistan was able to cross the 200-run mark, finishing at 203.
Pat Cummins wins the battle 🤫#AUSvPAK pic.twitter.com/zSJWnriUjD
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) November 4, 2024
While chasing, Australia didn’t have a great start either as they lost 2 wickets for just 28 runs. However, Steve Smith and Josh Inglis steadied the innings and troubled the Pakistani bowlers. It seemed that the match was firmly in Australia’s grasp until Haris Rauf broke the 85-run partnership, giving Pakistan a glimmer of hope.
Following this, Pakistan quickly claimed three more wickets, making a strong comeback in the match. At the time this article was published, Australia had lost 6 wickets and was at 154 runs, needing 50 runs in 26 overs.
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Mohammad Rizwan is starting his captaincy career with this match. Under Babar Azam, Pakistan had a disappointing performance this year. Men in Green failed to progress beyond the group stage of the 2024 T20 World Cup. Following this, Babar resigned from the captaincy. Now, it will be interesting to see how the Pakistan team performs in the six limited-overs games against Australia under Rizwan’s captaincy.