Australia vs Pakistan: Rain rescues Pakistan in the 1st T20I

Rain incessantly played hide and seek at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Sunday before eventually triumphing as Australia and Pakistan were forced to share the spoils on a gloomy evening.

The contest, which was reduced to a 15 over-per-side game, produced its fair share of adroit and belligerent batting displays. However, it still wasn’t enough to lead to a result.

After winning the toss, Australian captain, Aaron Finch elected to field first, meaning that Pakistan had first use of an SCG wicket that has been under the scanner recently.

The visitors though, got off to a wretched start when Fakhar Zaman was sent packing on the 2nd delivery of the innings by Mitchell Starc. An over later, Kane Richardson got the better of Haris Sohail to throw a massive spanner in Pakistan’s works.

However, akin to countless previous occasions, Babar Azam, alongside Mohammad Rizwan resurrected the innings and stitched together a 60-run stand.

Though the latter departed in the 11th over, the former batted through the innings and unfurled his entire repertoire of shots in an innings that lasted 38 balls and fetched him 59 runs. Courtesy Babar’s efforts, Pakistan were able to post a sub-par total of 107 in their allotted 15 overs.

Yet, with the DLS method in operation, Australia’s target was re-adjusted to 119, meaning that the hosts had to score at nearly 8 runs per over.

With the threat of rain looming, Finch pulled out all the stops to ensure his side surged ahead of the DLS par score with a scintillating knock of 37 off 16 deliveries.

Unfortunately, though, his attempts went in vain as rain returned for one final time, thereby putting paid to the home side’s hopes of establishing an early lead in the series.

The action now shifts to the nation’s capital when the pair clashes swords on the 5th of November, as Australia look to continue their unbeaten home record this summer while Pakistan embark on another mission to ruffle Aussie feathers.

Scores: Pakistan: 107-5 in 15 overs (Babar Azam 59*; Kane Richardson 2/16); Australia: 41-0 in 3.1 overs (Aaron Finch 37*)

Result: Match abandoned due to rain

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