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Brave Pakistan fell just short against Australia at the MCG, losing by two wickets. This was Mohammed Rizwan’s first game as captain. Similar to what happened under Babar’s tenure, Pakistan was aggressive and battled hard.

What was disappointing was that the tourists put up a disappointing showing with the bat. The returning Babar Azam showed plenty of class in his 37, and captain Rizwan (44) made a good contribution.

Naseem Shah (40), Shaheen Shah Afridi (24), and Irfan Khan (22) made contributions to support Babar and Rizwan, but Pakistan as a collective was only able to post 203, which appeared well short.

Defending just 203, Pakistan came out strongly and put the Aussies under a lot of pressure. Matt Short and the talented Fraser-McGurk were dismissed early. At this point, Rizwan’s men sensed blood and hoped to rip through the top order, but Steve Smith (44) and Josh Inglis (49) put on 85 for the third wicket.

At 113-3, the run-chase seemed under control, but when Inglis was fourth out, this sparked a mini-collapse. Three wickets fell for 16 runs, and with the score 155-7, the winning target 204 seemed some way away.

That brought Sean Abbott to the crease, who scored 13. Along with his captain, he helped the home side put on 30 for the eighth wicket. The game was at a knife-edge.

Two wickets were needed for Pakistan, and just 19 runs were needed for Australia. In a game that swung one way and another, the home side, Australia, would win this one by two wickets.

Mitch Starc was there with his captain Pat Cummins (32 not out) to guide his side home to a tense win. Both sides have had a very encouraging start to the series.

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