In Melbourne on Monday, Australia’s captain Pat Cummins won the toss and decided to bowl in the opening game of a three-match one-day series against Pakistan.
World champions Australia have a new opening pairing with Jake Fraser-McGurk and Matt Short while Mitchell Marsh and Travis Head are on paternity leave.
On a cloudy day, veteran Josh Hazlewood was rested, and Sean Abbott joined Cummins and Mitchell Starc in the home team’s pace assault.
Following Babar Azam’s resignation last month, Mohammad Rizwan takes the captaincy for Pakistan in their first 50-over match since the World Cup.
Shaheen Shah Afridi will lead a four-man fast-bowling attack, while Irfan Khan will make his one-day international debut in the middle order.
Jason Gillespie, a former Australian international who is now Pakistan’s Test coach, will lead the visiting team in the series and the next three Twenty20 matches.
Gary Kirsten, the white-ball coach for Pakistan, quit last week after only six months on the job.
