Minhas, Babar, and Ghori lead Pakistan to victory in their 1000th ODI

Pakistan have begun the three-match ODI series on a winning note, claiming victory by five wickets. 

S-pindi

Opting to bowl first, Pakistan's debutant Arafat Minhas wreaked havoc with the Australian batters as he became the first Pakistani to take a five-for in his first ODI game. Minhas was joined by Abrar Ahmed and Salman Ali Agha as the spinners shared eight wickets between them, conceding just 97 runs in 25 overs.

The dominant spin performance kept uprooting the Australian batters, of whom only two crossed 30 runs. Matt Short, who scored 55 off 76 balls, and Matt Renshaw, who top-scored with 61 runs, resisted by trying to brew the partnerships but the recoveries were hardly long enough to bring Australia back into the game. They could only creep up to 200 runs before Pakistan bowlers bowled them out within 45 overs.

Babar, Ghori did the bulk of the run-scoring

That the side had to bowl under the lights with dew on offer did not help the visitors' case. Despite getting the openers fairly early, Australia's players were never back in contention. This was further made trickier by a 127-run stand between Babar Azam and Ghazi Ghori. 

After his brilliant PSL form and decent innings during the second Test against Bangladesh, Babar's fans waited with bated breath for him to bat in what is probably his favourite format. The right-handed batter scored 69 runs off 94 balls, which, although it seems a tad slow, was still pretty quick for what the surface had to offer.

But the stand had to break, just so Arafat Minhas, the wrecker-in-chief with the ball, could take the strike and deservedly hit the winning runs off a six.

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Minhas grabs a five-for on debut as Pakistan halt Australia for 200 in first ODI- IPL