Pakistan beat visitors Australia by 5 wickets in 1st ODI
What's the story
Pakistan defeated Australia by five wickets in the first ODI match held at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi. Arafat Minhas's 5/32 on debut helped the hosts bowl Australia out for 200 with 35 balls remaining in their innings. In response, match-winning knocks from Babar Azam and Ghazi Ghori helped Pakistan win by 5 wickets in 42.3 overs. Here are further details and stats.
Match dynamics
Minhas makes his presence felt in the middle overs
Australia's new opening pair of Matthew Short and Alex Carey started their innings cautiously, hitting a few boundaries. However, Carey's stay at the crease was cut short by Abrar Ahmed in the seventh over. The mystery spinner had him caught at slip with a beautifully flighted delivery. This opened up the floodgates for Pakistan as Minhas adjusted his length to wreak havoc on Australia's batting lineup.
Bowling brilliance
A brilliant spell from the young pacer
Minhas's fourth over was a turning point in the match as he trapped Josh Inglis and Marnus Labuschagne in quick succession. The former missed an attempted reverse sweep while the latter was late to bring his bat down on time for a fuller delivery on the back foot. This left Australia reeling at 68 for 4, with their hopes of posting a challenging total fading away.
Match conclusion
Australia's innings comes to an end in the 44th over
Minhas completed his five-wicket haul with a sharp delivery that bowled Nathan Ellis. He was brought back for his final two overs at the start of the third powerplay. Afridi (1/19) and Haris Rauf (1/24) picked up one wicket each to help Pakistan wrap up Australia's innings. Matthew Kuhnemann, who had faced just 15 balls in his ODI career before this match, was the last man to fall after stitching partnerships of 34 and 20 with Renshaw and Ellis respectively.
Short
Australia's Matthew Short slams his 4th ODI half-century
Short played a fine knock versus Pakistan, scoring a patient 76-ball 55. Short's knock of 55 was laced with 6 fours. In 19 ODIs for the Aussies, Short raced to 447 runs at 26.29. His strike rate is 89.93, as per ESPNcricinfo. He registered his 4th ODI fifty. Against Pakistan, Short slammed his maiden fifty. From 4 matches, he owns 97 runs at 24.25. Short slammed his 14th fifty in List A cricket (100s: 2). In 84 matches (78 innings), Short owns 2,278 runs at an average of over 31. His strike rate reads above 89.
Renshaw
Australia's Matt Renshaw slams his 2nd ODI half-century
Renshaw faced 63 balls for his 61. He hit a six and 5 fours. In 4 ODIs, he now owns 168 runs at an average of 56. He registered his 2nd ODI fifty. As per ESPNcricinfo, Renshaw has amassed 2,965 runs at 41-plus from 82 matches (80 innings) in List A cricket. He smashed his 19th fifty (100s: 7). Notably, he completed 50 sixes.
Bowling
Pakistan's Arafat Minhas claims fifer on ODI debut
Minhas has become the first Pakistani cricketer to take five wickets on his One Day International (ODI) debut. He finished with impressive figures of 5/32 in his full quota of 10 overs. He also bowled a maiden. Minhas became the 11th Pakistan bowler to claim a five-wicket haul against Australia in ODIs. Meanwhile, he is the 1st Pakistan bowler to claim a five-wicket haul against the Aussies on home soil.
Information
Summary of PAK bowlers
Afridi bowled six overs and clocked 1/19. Rauf bowled 5.1 overs and managed 1/24. Abrar was solid in his 10-over spell (2/44). Shadab Khan managed 0/54 from 8 overs. Salman Agha bowled 5 overs and managed 1/21. Minhas clocked 5/32 from 10 overs.
Chase
How did Pakistan's chase pan out?
Chasing a target of 201 runs, Babar walked out when Pakistan were 25/1. Soon Pakistan became 49/2. Pakistan needed to steady the ship after losing two wickets and they got that. Babar took his time to settle in and once he eased himself in, a partnership worth 127 floored the Aussies. Ghori also supported Babar from the other end as the two dealt with the situation perfectly. Australia dismissed both Babar and Ghori but it was too late by then.
Information
Babar averages 68.63 versus Australia
Babar's knock had a six and four fours. He has raced to 755 runs from 14 matches against the Aussies at an average of 68.63. He slammed his 3rd fifty (100s: 3), as per ESPNcricinfo. His strike rate is 89.56.
Runs
Babar notches his 38th ODI fifty; 3,500 runs in Asia
Playing his 141st ODI (138 innings), Babar has amassed 6,570 runs at 53.85. He hit his 38th fifty (100s: 20). In 33 ODIs at home, Babar now owns 1,876 runs at a solid 62.53. He clocked his 10th ODI fifty at home (100s: 8). As per ESPNcricinfo, Babar surpassed 3,500 ODI runs in Asia (3,504) at 55.61 (100s: 13, 50s: 21).
Do you know?
57th fifty in List A cricket
In 209 List A matches Babar raced to 9,716 runs at 53-plus. He clocked his 57th fifty in List A cricket. Babar also owns 31 hundreds.
Ghori
Maiden ODI fifty for Ghori
Ghori faced 92 balls for his knock of 65. He slammed 8 fours. Playing just his 2nd ODI, Ghori has amassed 94 runs at 47. His only other ODI was against Bangladesh in March 2026 where he managed 29 runs. Overall in List A cricket, Ghori has amassed 300 runs from 19 matches (13 innings) at 25. He slammed his 2nd fifty in List A cricket.
Summary
Summary of AUS bowlers
Nathan Ellis claimed 2/45 from 7 overs. Billy Stanlake bowled 6 overs and managed 0/37. Matthew Kuhnemann was superb. He managed 1/29 from 10 overs (1 maiden). Fellow spinner Tanveer Sangha bowled 3 maidens in his 10-over spell (1/31). Marnus Labuschagne bowled 1.3 overs and clocked 1/15. Short bowled 3 overs (0/11) whereas Renshaw managed 0/33 from 5 overs.