Australia v Pakistan first ODI: Captain Pat Cummins seals thrilling win with dramatic chase

Australia have survived to win a thriller in their opening match of the international summer - with captain Pat Cummins coming up clutch again after Pakistan had turned the match on its head.

Questions over Australia’s best one-day batting mix were left unanswered as it took yet another dogged effort from captain Pat Cummins to chase down Pakistan’s 203 in a thrilling opener to the international summer.

It was the latest addition to the swelling list of Cummins’ batting exploits in tight games as he came in at 7-155 to steer Australia to a two-wicket win in front of 25,831 fans at the MCG on Monday.

The Aussie skipper made an unbeaten 32 to prevent a boilover after Haris Rauf (3-67) and Shaheen Afridi (2-43) almost led a four-pronged pace attack to victory in seam-friendly conditions.

With only four ODIs scheduled before February’s Champions Trophy in Pakistan, openers Jake Fraser-McGurk and Matt Short wasted their first opportunities to cement themselves with both out cheaply attempting to slog over midwicket in the first four overs.

Steve Smith (44 off 46) and Josh Inglis (49 off 42) cruised to 2-113 before Smith, to his own disgust, cut a short and wide delivery from Rauf straight to backward point.

Inglis narrowly cleared an athletic attempt from debutant Irfan Khan on the square leg boundary only to give up his wicket to the same fielder with a miscued pull shot on the next delivery, sparking a collapse from 3-139 to 7-155.

Playing their first ODI since the 2023 World Cup, Pakistan, and particularly new captain Mohammad Rizwan (44 off 71), paced their innings poorly to crawl to 2-63 in the 18th over before Babar Azam played inside a straightening delivery from Adam Zampa and was bowled for 37.

Mitchell Starc bowled with impressive rhythm to remove both openers, and is building ominously towards the Test summer after claiming 3-33 to go with his seven wickets in a Sheffield Shield return at the MCG last month.

Mitchell Starc delivered in the big moments for Australia. Picture: Getty

Naseem Shah belted four sixes in a career-best innings of 40 not out to drag Pakistan to a competitive total.

But disaster struck in Naseem’s eighth over when the 21-year-old quick appeared to injure his left knee in his delivery stride and was helped off the field, casting significant doubt over his involvement in the rest of the series.

ALMOST A HARIS LANDSLIDE

Haris Rauf knows what it takes to claim an MCG hat-trick, and the former Melbourne Stars livewire was eyeing off the second of his career as he swung the game back towards Pakistan midway through the chase.

Rauf had the vocal Pakistani faithful on their feet when Marnus Labuschagne steered a short ball straight down the throat of third man, and then jumping all over each other when he found Glenn Maxwell’s outside edge for a golden duck next ball.

Pakistan bowler Haris Rauf (2nd R) turned the match on its head. Picture: Getty

The fired-up quick steamed in at Sean Abbott but lost his footing as he fired a full delivery at his pads, slapping the ground in frustration after missing out on a repeat of his 2020 exploits for the Stars.

But the burst left Australia reeling at 6-139, and ruined Maxwell’s MCG comeback – the Victorian all-rounder had not batted in an ODI innings at the venue since January 2019.

SHORT-BALL SUCCESS

Cummins saw life in the MCG pitch and Australia’s quicks used the short ball to impressive effect after he won the toss and elected to field.

Coming into the series without a tour game to acclimatise to the extra bounce, Pakistan adjusted poorly, and Abdullah Shafique threw his wicket away trying to guide a short ball from Starc over the slip cordon.

In-form right-hander Salman Ali Agha also played a dismal shot to a bouncer from Abbott, bunting a half-hearted pull shot straight to Short at square leg.

Cummins produced the ball of the day with a scattered-seam delivery which reared sharply and caught the glove of second-gamer Kamran Ghulam on the way through to Inglis.

FIELDING WOES UNPUNISHED

Australia started poorly in the field, but Pakistan’s gun-shy top order failed to apply any pressure to the home side and then suffered when the Aussies tightened the screws.

Uncharacteristic errors from Sean Abbott on consecutive deliveries and Marnus Labuschagne at mid-off turned dots into runs for Pakistan, but they still only managed to score off 16 deliveries in the first 10 overs in a major failure to rotate the strike.