Australia bowl out Pakistan by 203 runs

Australia defeated Pakistan by 203 runs in the first ODI played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Monday.

The Green Shirts continued to lose wickets at regular intervals, with the home team batting first in the series opener.

Debutant Saim Ayub (1) was the first to bite the dust when he lost to Mitchell Starc in the third round. Opening partner Abdullah Shafique also fell victim to Starc after playing a sizzling knock of 12 runs.

Babar Azam, who was rested and returned to the national team in the remaining two tests of the 3-match series against England, was defeated by Adam Zampa in the 37th minute.

Kamran Ghulam and Salman Ali Agha also failed to retain their place and were dismissed after making meager contributions of five and 12 runs respectively.

Although captain Mohammad Rizwan also tried to dig, he could not achieve great success and left the race after 44 laps.

While Shaheen Shah Afridi was dismissed on 24, Naseem Shah (40) and Irfan Khan (22) helped the national team take the score beyond the 200-run mark.

However, with the performance of Haris Rauf (0), the Green Shirts were eventually restricted to 203 runs.

For Australia, Starc took three wickets, while skipper Pat Cummins and leg-spinner Zamba dismissed two batsmen each.

It is worth noting that Pakistan is playing its first ODI since the 93-run defeat against England in the International Cricket Council (ICC) Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023.

The national team performed poorly in the big organization and could not reach the semi-finals.

Australia, on the contrary, is still fresh off its 3-2 away series victory against England.

Both the countries have faced each other 108 times in ODIs; The five-time World Cup winners have a dominant record with 70 wins compared to the Green Shirts’ 34 wins.

The Kangaroos have an equally impressive record in home ODIs; While they won 37 of the 56 matches, Pakistan had 17 wins.

Squads

Pakistan: Mohammad Rizwan (c), Salman Ali Agha (vc), Abdullah Shafique, Saim Ayub, Babar Azam, Kamran Ghulam, Muhammad Irfan Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Hasnain.

Australia: Matt Short, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Steve Smith, Josh Inglis (wk), Marnus Labuschagne, Aaron Hardie, Glenn Maxwell, Sean Abbott, Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa.