After suffering a 0-3 whitewash in the Test series, Pakistan entered Brisbane hoping that a change in colours might provide a difference to their fortunes. Despite losing the toss, they made a promising start to the first ODI by picking up a flurry of wickets to leave Australia at a precarious position.
However, gloveman Matthew Wade showed his prowess with the bat to lift the hosts to a competitive total of 268 from 78 for 5. In addition to that, his century also snatched the momentum from the visitors’ hands. The Australian bowlers backed up the left-hander’s hard work by finishing off Pakistan at 176 to register a 1-0 lead in the 5-match series.
Here are all the interesting numbers from Australia’s 92-run victory in the opening ODI.
1 – Number of times when a spinner opened the bowling in ODIs at the Gabba. Mohammad Hafeez has etched his name in the record books with this unique feat. The off-spinner vindicated Azhar Ali’s decision by giving a tidy spell of 0/23 from seven overs.
2 – Instances of Australian wicket-keeper batsmen scoring reaching three figures in ODIs at the Gabba. Wade joined the iconic Adam Gilchrist who had scored 122 at this venue against Sri Lanka in the 3rd final of the 2006 VB Series.
3 – Ducks for Steven Smith from his last five ODI innings. Before this golden duck, there was a 7-ball zero against New Zealand in Melbourne (3rd ODI) as well as a 2-ball zero against South Africa in Cape Town (5th ODI). In contrast, he only had two ducks from his first 86 ODI innings with both of them coming in 2011.
9 – Victories for Australia from their last 10 completed ODIs at the Gabba. The only loss in that period came against Sri Lanka in the 2013 bilateral series.
15 – Number of years back when Australia lost half of their batting lineup for a lower ODI score against Pakistan than the 78 they managed today. The previous occasion also came at the Gabba in 2002 when they were reduced to 65/5 against a bowling attack featuring Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Shoaib Akhtar.
16 – Consecutive defeats for Pakistan against Australia in Australia across all formats. Their previous victory against the Aussies away from home came almost 12 years ago in a VB Series ODI at the WACA.
20 – Victories for Australia from their last 25 ODIs against Pakistan across both home and neutral venues. The time period under question begins from 16th January, 2005.
21 – Number of wins for Australia from their previous 24 ODIs at home. Their only loss (other two games were abandoned due to rain) in the intervening period came against India at Sydney last year.
81 – Runs needed for Babar in his next ODI to become the fastest batsman ever to reach the 1000-mark. He had come into this game 114 runs short of the mark. If the 22-year old takes two matches (21) to score those 81 runs, he will have to settle for the joint-fastest record alongside Viv Richards, Kevin Pietersen, Jonathan Trott and Quinton de Kock.
190 – Runs scored by Australia after the fall of the fifth wicket. This is the second most by their lower order under such circumstances following the 194 against India in the 2013 Bangalore ODI.
220 – Total number of cricketers who have represented Australia in ODIs thus far. Chris Lynn and Billy Stanlake became the latest entries in the list. Only England (246) have fielded more players in ODIs than Australia until now.
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