Melbourne: The Pakistan cricket team toured Australia to play a 3-match ODI cricket series. The first ODI match between these two teams was started on November 4 at Melbourne Cricket Stadium in East Melbourne. Australia won the toss and invited Pakistan to bat first. But Pakistan had a troubled start with both openers, Saim Ayub (1) and Abdullah Shafique (12), dismissed by Mitchell Starc in the powerplay overs.

After that, Babar Azam and captain Mohammad Rizwan added a 39-run partnership stand to give some respite to the scoreboard. However, the partnership was broken by Adam Zampa with the wicket of Azam for 37 runs off 44 deliveries, which included 4 fours. And then, Kamran Ghulam (5) and Salman Agha (12) failed to score in the middle order and added misery to Pakistan’s struggle. On the other hand, Rizwan too failed to continue his good start and was dismissed by Marnus Labuschagne for 44 runs off 71 deliveries, which included 2 fours and a six.

Then, Shaheen Shah Afridi was dismissed by Mitchell Starc for 24 off 19 laced with 3 fours and a six. After that, Irfan Khan was run out by Matt Short for 22 runs, and in the very next over, Adam Zampa dismissed Haris Rauf for a duck. At last, Naseem Shah added the important runs for Pakistan. But, in the end, he was dismissed by Pat Cummins for 40 runs off 39 balls laced with four and 4 sixes to take the side 203 before being bundled out in 46.4 overs.

For Australia, Mitchell Starc took 3 wickets while Adam Zampa and Pat Cummins snatched two scalps each. Chasing 204 runs, Shaheen Afridi and Naseem Shah were dismissed by new opening pair Matthew Short 1 and Jake Fraser-McGurk 16 within the first four overs. After that, Steve Smith and Josh Inglis stepped up into the crease. However, an 85-run partnership stand between Josh Inglis and Steve Smith helped steady the run-chase, which was always on the cards.

But things could have turned worse for Australia when Steve Smith made an unexpected error, cutting a delivery from Haris Rauf straight to backward point and departing for 44 off 46 laced with 6 fours. On the other side, Inglis finally paid off when he pulled a delivery from Shaheen Afridi, only for Irfan to take a remarkable catch in the deep for 49 runs off 42 balls, which included 4 fours and 3 sixes. After that, Labuschagne was caught by Haris Rauf for 16, while Maxwell edged the next ball to Rizwan for a duck, leaving Australia at 139 for 6.

Aaron Hardie and Sean Abbott stepped up into the crease, but Hardie soon fell while trying to cut a ball from Mohammad Hasnain (10) that struck the top of the middle. Facing a barrage of short balls, Pat Cummins continued to score and survive, but Sean Abbott was run out while trying to take 13 runs on a push from Cummins. Yet, the skipper remained until the end and scored 32* off 31, which included 4 fours, the winnings for Australia to break the hearts of Pakistani fans.

Finally, Australia scored 204-8 in 33.3 overs and won by 2 wickets. Because of that, Australia has taken the lead in the series by 1–0* (3) at home. On the other hand, Harish Rauf took 3 wickets and Shaheen Afridi took 2 wickets, but Pakistan could not avoid defeat.