Off-spinner Glenn Maxwell polished off Pakistan s top order with the new ball and opening batsman David Warner anchored the run chase with an unbeaten 54 as Australia comfortably won the one-off Twenty20 match by six wickets on Sunday.
Maxwell finished with 3-13 after removing opening batsman Awais Zia for 3 while Umar Amin and Sohaib Maqsood fell without scoring. Newcomer Saad Nasim hit 25 to stabilize the innings but Pakistan finished on an uncompetitive 96-9 after Shahid Afridi won the toss in his comeback match as captain and opted to bat first.
Australia wobbled at first, reduced to 56-4, before Warner cut loose and Australia reached 98-4 with six overs to spare. "Nice wicket to bowl on and hopefully I can keep going well since wickets here might be more like this," Maxwell said after receiving man of the match award. "There s a lot of places up for grabs, we re a young side and we try and put our best foot forward."
Pakistan could score only four boundaries in its entire innings and struggled against spinners as Maxwell s triple strike reduced them to 33-4 by the seventh over. Umar Akmal also fell cheaply to Australian debutante Kane Richardson and Afridi left the team limping at 46-6 when he was trapped leg before wicket by Sean Abbott off a full pitched delivery.
Nasim, who forced his way in the side after an impressive run at the Champions League in India last week, could not hit a boundary in his 32-ball knock before he was clean bowled by Mitchel Starc off a brilliant yorker.
However, Wahab Riaz (16) and Raza Hasan (13) chipped in with some runs and ensured Pakistan at least consumed its full quota of 20 overs. Australia top order also struggled against left-arm spinner Hasan despite Pakistan being without its two key spinners Saeed Ajmal, suspended due to illegal bowling action and Mohammad Hafeez, who was ruled out of the Twenty20 and one-day series due to hand injury.
Hasan removed captain Aaron Finch and Steven Smith cheaply in his opening spell as both batsmen miscued their shots and gave easy catches. Maxwell hit three boundaries in his quickfire 17 before Afridi had him lbw but Warner ensured Australia didn t lose its way but striking some aggressive boundaries.
The left-hander raised his half century with a reverse flick over the midwicket for six off Maqsood s offspin before closing out the game.
"After the first over we thought we wanted 120-125, but we didn t play it well," Afridi said. "First six overs are very important, but we missed the opportunity and didn t read the pitch very well."
Both teams now compete in a three-match one-day series which begins at Sharjah on Tuesday.
Pakistan vs. Australia Scoreboard
Pakistan Batting:
Ahmed Shehzad c Finch b Boyce ......................10
Awais Zia c Richardson b Maxwel ....................... 3
Umar Amin st Haddin b Maxwell ....................... 0
Sohaib Maqsood b Maxwell ................................ 0
Saad Nasim b Starc ......................................... 25
Umar Akmal c Warner b Richardson .................... 1
Shahid Afridi lbw b Abbott ................................... 2
Anwar Ali c Richardson b Boyce........................... 5
Wahab Riaz c Starc b Faulkner ...........................16
Raza Hasan not out ........................................... 13
Mohammad Irfan not out .......................................1
Extras: (7lb, 13w) ...............................................20
Total: (for 9 wickets) ...........................................96
Fall of wickets: 1-13, 2-13, 3-23, 4-33, 5-36, 6-46, 7-57, 8-71, 9-86.
Bowling: Glenn Maxwell 3-0-13-3 (6w), Mitchel Starc 4-0-17-1 (5w), Cameron Boyce 4-0-10-2, Kane Richardson 3-0-13-1, Sean Abbott 3-0-17-1 (2w), Steven Smith 1-0-4-0, James Faulkner 2-0-15-1.
Australia Batting:
David Warner not out ..........................................54
Aaron Finch c Irfan b Hasan .................................5
Glenn Maxwell b Afridi ........................................17
Steven Smith c Riaz b Hasan ..............................3
Phillip Hughes c Maqsood b Riaz .........................6
James Faulkner not out .......................................7
Extras: (4lb, 1w, 1nb) ..........................................6
Total: (for 4 wickets) .........................................98
Fall of wickets: 1-11, 2-38, 3-42, 4-56
Did not bat: Brad Haddin, Sean Abbott, Mitchell Starc, Kane Richardson, Cameron Boyce.
Bowling: Raza Hasan 4-0-17-2, Mohammad Irfan 2-0-20-0, Shahid Afridi 4-0-17-1 (1w), Wahab Riaz 2-0-15-1, Saad Nasim 1-0-12-0, Sohaib Maqsood 1-0-13-0 (1nb).
