Australia are dominating proceedings in the first ODI match against Pakistan that is being played in Melbourne. Pat Cummins’ decision to bowl first after winning the toss and paid rich dividends. The 31-year-old was seen bowling with fire as he troubled the Pakistani batters with the extra bounce on the wicket.
Kamran Ghulam came out to bat at the fall of Babar Azam’s wicket. The 29-year-old got off the mark with a well-placed four off Adam Zampa. In the next over, Pat Cummins bowled a terrific short ball. Kamran Ghulam was beaten for pace as he could only edge the ball to Josh Inglis.
WATCH the video here:
Pat Cummins wins the battle 🤫#AUSvPAK pic.twitter.com/zSJWnriUjD
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) November 4, 2024
Pakistan batters were done in by the disciplined bowling by the home team. Mohammad Rizwan is leading his national side for the first time after being named the white-ball skipper. Babar Azam, Shaheen Afridi, and Naseem Shah have made their returns to the team after missing the final two Tests against England.
Pakistan batting unit flounders against Australia
Mitchell Starc got Australia their first wicket of the day when he bowled Saim Ayub for 3 runs. Opener Abdullah Shafique was his steady self but failed to push the scoring rate. The right-handed batter was out to Starc for just 12 after having faced 26 balls.
There was a huge roar from the sparse crowd that had come to see the game in MCG as soon as Babar Azam walked out to bat. The former Pakistan skipper played well to hit four well-timed boundaries. Adam Zampa ended Azam’s knock when he bowled the former skipper 37 off 44 balls.
After the fall of Kamran Ghulam, vice-captain Salman Agha came out to bat. Sean Abbott dismissed him for 12 while skipper Mohammad Rizwan was the best batter for the visitors. The 32-year-old batted well to score 44 runs off 71 balls with two fours and a huge six.
Irfan Khan scored 22 off 26 balls before a comical mix-up saw him run out. Shaheen Shah Afridi played a breezy knock to score 24 off 19 balls but that cameo was ended by Starc who got his third wicket. At the time of writing, Pakistan were 183/9 with Naseem Shah batting on 22.