Published: Jan 13, 2017, 06:47 PM (IST)
Edited: Jan 13, 2017, 06:47 PM (IST)
Pakistan’s wretched run in Australia extended to 16 defeats across formats when they were hammered by a margin of 92 runs in the first ODI at Brisbane. Despite restricting Australia to a modest total of 268 for 9, Pakistan turned up with a muddled approach with the bat, only to lose the game by a huge margin. No Pakistan batsman scored more than 33, as Babar Azam’s score remained the highest on a slow but batting-friendly wicket at The Gabba on Friday. On the other hand, Australia produced an all-round show recovering from their batting collapse and clinched a morale-boosting win. Let us take a look at the highlights from the first ODI:
Australia’s poor start: After winning the toss, Australia looked to make a good start with the bat. Unfortunately, their top-order did not get going. David Warner was beaten outside off several times by Mohammad Aamer before being cleaned up. On the very next delivery, Steven Smith — who scored two centuries in the Test series — edged one behind. Chris Lynn and Travis Head fought for a while before being dismissed in quick succession, while Mitchell Marsh disappointed once again. At one stage Australia were 78 for 5.
Comedy of errors from Pakistan: Count on Pakistan to shoot themselves in the foot every single time. While the bowlers (both fast bowlers and spinners) exerted pressure, the poor work of the fielders — especially in the deep — gave away extra runs. On two occasions, Lynn and Head ran four as Pakistan fumbled in the field. Azhar, for reasons unknown, waited for the ball to stop by itself even though he had made the slide. On another occasion two fielders got confused over who would pick up the ball and throw back. There was another instance of wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan and Sharjeel Khan colliding while collecting a throw from the deep. And Matthew Wade survived an easy run-out opportunity in the penultimate ball of the innings.
FULL CRICKET SCORECARD: Australia vs Pakistan, 1st ODI at Brisbane
Glenn Maxwell’s fightback: With some brisk strokeplay (especially a few effectively placed reverse-sweeps), Maxwell led Australia’s recovery after a string of wickets. While Wade was happy playing the second fiddle, Maxwell took the attack to the opposition. He looked set for a century that would have pushed Australia’s total further, but Hasan Ali bowled well to claim 3 wickets in the match.
Matthew Wade’s century: Wade became only the fourth Australian wicketkeeper-batsman (after Adam Gilchrist, Brad Haddin and Tim Paine), and the second Australian No. 7 (after James Faulkner) to score an ODI century. His hundred came off the final ball in the innings, that too thanks to some ordinary fielding. It was nevertheless a quality knock that held the Australian innings together, even after they lost Maxwell with 19 more overs left in their innings.
Pakistan’s muddled approach: What exactly was Pakistan’s plan in this chase is remains a mystery. They started off slowly, as if the plan was to preserve the wickets initially. But there was no intent shown in hitting boundaries or even rotating strike. Several batsmen got starts but failed to carry on. For more than 16 overs, Pakistan did not hit a boundary, which tells how muddled their approach was despite making a sedate start.
