Australia win the first T20I of their series against Pakistan, winning by 29 runs. Played on November 14, Australia set a hefty target of 94 in a reduced seven-over game after Pakistan had elected to field, courtesy of having sent in the batters first.
Australia’s innings was steady though even when their early opener Jake Fraser-McGurk was sent back by Naseem Shah having fallen to Babar Azam’s catch. Soon, Matt Short fell, victim to Haris Rauf at 2.4 overs, as Australia continued at 35/2. Glenn Maxwell and Tim David then played quite aggressively. Maxwell scored a quick 31 before he got bowled over by Abbas Afridi. David also scored considerably till he was caught by Sahibzada Farhan, who had been bowling Afridi. Australia reached a total of 93 for four in seven overs, courtesy of Marcus Stoinis and captain Josh Inglis, who were not out.
Pakistan’s chase was bound to be a wee bit tricky from word go, with early wickets putting tremendous pressure on the batting lineup. Sahibzada Farhan, who had opened for Pakistan, was caught by Xavier Bartlett off Spencer Johnson in the very first over. Pakistan captain Mohammad Rizwan was not far behind, caught by Fraser-McGurk off Bartlett. Bad days come rarely to Babar Azam, but on this day it just did not happen – wickets kept coming at regular intervals. Abbas Afridi was the best Pakistani bowler who took two wickets for nine runs in his over.
Bowled by Australia, with Xavier Bartlett and Nathan Ellis in particular, they completely held the momentum of the run rate while containing Pakistan to 64/9 at the end of their innings. Therefore, the three-match T20 series stands leveled at 1-0 with this strong performance by Australia, setting a very high expectation from them for the remaining matches.
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