AUS vs PAK 2024/25, AUS vs PAK 1st ODI Match Preview

Big picture: Pakistan’s years-long divide amid chaos

Australia’s best bat-off in Tests is front and centre. But before India arrive for the much-anticipated Border-Gavaskar Trophy, the men’s international season begins with a white-ball tour of Pakistan. It includes three ODIs and T20Is each, starting in Melbourne on Monday.

For the hosts, this provides the bulk of their preparation for the Champions Trophy, with only a one-off in Sri Lanka to follow in February. They remain largely settled in the format, barring David Warner’s retirement since the ODI World Cup, and are coming off a 3-2 win in England in September.

Mitchell Marsh and Travis Head are missing the series against Pakistan on paternity leave and Cameron Green is injured. But otherwise the main names will be shown – at least for parts of the series – as the fast bowlers in particular continue to be managed ahead of the Tests. The big three, including Pat Cummins, who remains the ODI captain despite not having played a match since the World Cup final, are expected to feature in two out of the three matches.

Despite the dwindling importance of bilateral ODIs, it still feels extraordinary that Pakistan haven’t played a game since their last outing at the World Cup nearly a year ago (so the form guide below is pretty irrelevant). Don’t think for a minute that this means a lack of drama, though. Despite not facing a ball in ODIs during this time, Babar Azam resigned as captain, returned and then retired again.

After being dropped during the Test series against England, he is back for this tour alongside Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah, while Mohammad Rizwan has been handed the captaincy – at least for this week – as they try to put together a team that can compete in a Champions Trophy at home.

Whiteball coach Gary Kirsten is also gone without having had an ODI in his short tenure. Jason Gillespie has been handed the job on a temporary basis for this tour, creating an unexpected chance to come up against his home nation. It could be something of a trail run as no coach has been named for the Zimbabwe tour that follows, although it is understood Gillespie is unlikely to be offered the role full-time – and whether he would want it is another question entirely . A few weeks ago, however, it looked like he might be the first coach out the door until Sajid Khan and Noman Ali came to work in England.

Form guide

(Last five completed matches, most recent first)

Australia: WLLWW
Pakistan: LWWLL

In the spotlight: Jake Fraser-McGurk and Kamran Ghulam

Want another bat-off? Matt Short and Jake Fraser-McGurk has a chance to stake a claim to be Travis Head’s partner at the Champions Trophy. Fraser-McGurk made his international debut in the two ODIs he played against the West Indies earlier this year, hitting 41 off 23 balls across two innings. He did not feature against England but is now likely to have all three matches in this series to show his ability in the longer white-ball format. Fraser-McGurk has played just one game this season, a 50-over outing for South Australia, after being left out of the early Sheffield Shield rounds. But Pakistan have a strong pace attack and could give his technique a workover.

It sent a jolt through Pakistan cricket when Babar was left out of the opening Test against England, but his replacement Kamran Ghulam started in style with a century on debut in Multan. He has a single ODI cap to his name, but that came as a concussion replacement against New Zealand last year when he replaced Haris Sohail after Pakistan’s batting innings had ended and he was not required to bowl. So really a game against Australia would be the right start.

Team news: Hardie included

Cummins confirmed his first team of the season. Josh Hazlewood (Sheffield Shield) and Cooper Connolly (Australia A) are unavailable for the opening game. Lance Morris has been added as fast-bowling cover. Aaron Hardie impressed in England, and may have earned an opportunity a little higher up the pecking order.

Australia: 1 Matt Short, 2 Jake Fraser-McGurk, 3 Steven Smith, 4 Josh Inglis (wk), 5 Marnus Labuschagne, 6 Glenn Maxwell, 7 Aaron Hardie, 8 Sean Abbott, 9 Pat Cummins (capt), 10 Mitchell Starc, 11 Adam Zampa

Irfan Khan makes his ODI debut in the middle order while Pakistan have included four fast bowlers in the front line. Mohammad Rizwan was listed as no. 4

Pakistan: 1 Saim Ayub, 2 Abdullah Shafique, 3 Babar Azam, 4 Mohammad Rizwan (wk), 5 Kamran Ghulam, 6 Salman Ali Agha, 7 Irfan Khan, 8 Shaheen Shah Afridi, 9 Naseem Shah, 10 Haris Rauf, 11 Mohammad Hasna

Stand and conditions

The pitch for the Sheffield Shield match last month had plenty of help for the quicks and it’s still relatively early season in Melbourne. The forecast is for a cool and cloudy day, but it will remain dry.

Statistics and trivia

Glenn Maxwell needs 66 runs to reach 4000 in ODIs. Maxwell’s strike rate of 126 is far higher than any of the 20 Australian batters who have scored at least 3500 runs in ODIs, with Warner’s 97 the second best.
Babar needs one more century to equal Saeed Anwar’s record for most ODI hundreds for Pakistan.
Pakistan have only beaten Australia twice in the last 13 ODIs between the two sides, with both of those wins coming in a home series in 2022.
Overall, Australia have a 10-4 winning record against Pakistan at the MCG

Quotes

“It’s a good way to kick off the summer. Some of the young guys seeing what they’re made of as they sort of start their international careers. And then in the longer term, we’ve got the Champions Trophy on road that always has a good link to it.”
Pat Cummins prior to the start of the home summer

“We don’t want to prove anything. We just want to play normal cricket. We will try our best to play against these guys. Yes, Australia are a good team and they are in home conditions. Only one thing they have is the advantage by a home crowd.”
Mohammad Rizwan

Andrew McGlashan is deputy editor at Pakinomist