E-Paper | April 24, 2026

A youthful Pakistan crushed Australia by 66 runs in the first Twenty20 international in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

Pakistan scored 155-8 in their 20 overs as Babar Azam struck an unbeaten 68 before Imad Wasim took 3 for 20 to bowl Australia out for 89 in 16.5 overs — their joint-third lowest total in all T20 Internationals.

Paceman Faheem Ashraf and Shaheen Afridi both took two wickets apiece for Pakistan.

Fast bowlers Billy Stanlake (3-21) and Andrew Tye (3-24) were the main wicket-takers for Australia.

Australia left out paceman Mitchell Starc and off-spinner Nathan Lyon and included leg-spinner Adam Zampa in their XI.

Pakistan were without senior batsman Shoaib Malik who joined the team late as he was with his wife, Indian tennis star Sania Mirza, for the birth of their first child.

The second and third matches will be played in Dubai on Friday and Sunday, respectively.

Squad:

Pakistan: Sarfraz Ahmed (captain), Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Hafeez, Babar Azam, Asif Ali, Hussain Talat, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Hasan Ali, Imad Wasim, Faheem Ashraf

Australia: Aaron Finch (captain), Alex Carey, Ashton Agar, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Chris Lynn, Glenn Maxwell, Ben McDermott, D'Arcy Short, Billy Stanlake, Andrew Tye, Adam Zampa Umpires: Ahsan Raza (PAK) and Shozab Raza (PAK) Tv umpire: Asif Yaqoob (PAK) Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (SRI)

Our readers are at the heart of everything we do.
Do you have a thought to share or a way we can improve? We’d love to hear it. Reach out to us at feedback@dawn.com.

Sport

Zaman's career-best 73 sparks Pakistan to victory over Australia

Ten-wicket Abbas destroys Australia for Pakistan's series win

5 takeaways from Pakistan's drought-breaking series win over Australia

J,Gamble

Oct 24, 2018 09:26pm

Pakistan 26 for no loss.

Recommend 0

Arif

Oct 24, 2018 09:41pm

The superstar Fakhar Zaman is finish......Very poor performance from him...He can only perform against the weaker teams like Zimbawe.......

Recommend 0

J,Gamble

Oct 24, 2018 09:56pm

Projected score is close to 167

Recommend 0

LOUDSPEAKER

Oct 24, 2018 10:03pm

On this kind of wicket, anything less than 180 is not a safe total. Pakistani batsmen should go after the spinners and score as many runs as possible. Ten overs having been bowled and 77 runs on the scoreboard, Pakistan really needs to accelerate the scoring rate to at least 12 runs/over. Remember Australia has two T20 specialist batsmen in Aaron Finch and Glen Maxwell capable of making high scores.

Recommend 0

Aslam

Oct 24, 2018 10:33pm

130/3 --> 133/8...for 3 runs we lost 5 wickets...aweesome

Recommend 0

REVERSESWING

Oct 24, 2018 10:34pm

Typical Pakistani batting collapse. It’s 131/6 in 17.2 overs. Sarfaraz’s dismissal looks doubtful as the ball appears to go well above the stumps. So from Pakistan’s point of view it’s gone with the wind.

Recommend 0

Arif

Oct 24, 2018 10:40pm

Pathetic display of batting from this Pak team........Even Babbar is playing very slow.....

Recommend 0

Aref Nezami

Oct 24, 2018 11:33pm

This is very alarming for the cricket in general. Pakistan, Windies, Australia, SriLanka, have lost their touch. South Africa is not far behind and is on the same path.

Recommend 0

Waheed Khan

Oct 24, 2018 11:34pm

Aus 30/6

Recommend 0

Oct 24, 2018 11:57pm

@Arif You must be joking

Recommend 0

Feroz

Oct 25, 2018 12:12am

@Arif people like you like to talk nonsense.

Recommend 0

Philosopher (From Japan)

Oct 25, 2018 12:14am

Pak have won. Congrats green shirts and Sarfraz.

Recommend 0

Dr. Salaria, Aamir Ahmad

Oct 25, 2018 12:30am

Well done green-shirts. Keep it up and hang on tough.

Recommend 0

wsyed

Oct 25, 2018 12:31am

Sarfraz =0, once more. No excuse for him, thanks to Barbar.

Recommend 0

Sajid

Oct 25, 2018 12:57am

Pakistan; the unpredicted team of the cricket world.

Recommend 0

MNKhan

Oct 25, 2018 01:28am

Shocking display by our middle and lower order. Not sure what Hussein Talat brings to the team. He cannot score at a healthy strike rate and his bowling is much inferior to Fahim. Need to give confidence to Faheem in batting by sending him up the order if we want to develop someone atleast closer to Abdul razak or Azhar manhood I remember how razzak became a reliable batsmen , he batted up the order against quality sides in england and Australia, struggled,survived and then improved. That's why I feel Fahim should play test matches especially outside Asia. He bowled really well in england, maintaining pressure at one end and picking up vital wickets We also must focus on 50 overs cricket more. Why 3 t20s and no 50 overs match? PCB appears to be just interested in making money. Whether it's FTP scheduling or participation in highly suspicious t10 league

Recommend 0

MNKhan

Oct 25, 2018 01:31am

@Arif We need to give him confidence. He has shown he can bat under difficult conditions on big ovations One thing I admire about mickey is his willingness to groom players like fakhar. Share el is a prime example. He went from scoring quick 20s to making 100 within couple of series

Recommend 0

Pak_UK

Oct 25, 2018 01:54am

Asif good against pace only. Use him late in innings. Hussain Talat is better suited to ODI side in middle order. Give Farhan chance.

Recommend 0

Oct 25, 2018 02:21am

Truly a world champion team Pakistan is

Recommend 0

Oct 25, 2018 07:16am

Make sporting wickets. Flat tracks are no good for our batsmen to score. They will struggle on a green top pitch.

Recommend 0

Krishan Chand

Oct 25, 2018 07:25am

Good show!

Recommend 0

jaredlee007

Oct 25, 2018 08:02am

Now, Pakistan should show consistency.

Recommend 0

Hasan

Oct 25, 2018 08:10am

How good is the bowling without amir? Exceptional is the word. First in the tests and now t20.

Recommend 0

Anonymouseeeee

Oct 25, 2018 08:35am

Job well done Team GREEN.

Recommend 0

Sarah

Oct 25, 2018 09:20am

@Arif Really?

Recommend 0

Waqas

Oct 25, 2018 09:31am

@Arif : If you lost 5 wickets for just 3 runs how could you expect Babar to play aggressively.

Recommend 0

Chandra

Oct 25, 2018 10:22am

Superb cricket by Pak team!

Recommend 0

Sarah

Oct 25, 2018 11:51am

@Sajid Effect of unpredictable or Effect of Imaad Wasim,Hafeez back in team?Sohaib Malik should be back in 2nd game.

Recommend 0

Waseem Sarwar

Oct 25, 2018 02:05pm

@MNKhan , Fahim has played all three tests in Ireland and England and should be playing all three in South Africa if he stays fit. Pakistan prefer a spin bowling allrounder in UAE tests for obvious reasons but he certainly ticks most boxes as a proper test allrounder. Bowls a heavy ball, seams the ball, scores quick late middle order runs at critical times. He and Shadab should swap places in test side depending upon the conditions.

Recommend 0

JACKJONES

Oct 26, 2018 08:38am

Overall, excellent victory for Pakistan!! Bowling was outstanding and batting might need some work. I think Sarfraz should have promoted himself to bat earlier and that would have avoided the collapse.Generally, if a batsman is set referring to Babar Azam others players should take a single and give him the charge instead of hitting wildly and getting out. We were missing Shoab Malik for sure but then again this was a good opportunity for young players to take charge and play his role. Looking forward to tomorrows T-20.

Recommend 0

JACKJONES

Oct 26, 2018 08:46am

@Arif Disagree Fakhar scored over 70 runs in the July 2018 Triseries final against Australia. While Fakhar does need to work on his batting he has been a consistent performer for the pakistan team. In my opinion, sometimes Fakhar tries to hit too hard instead of focusing on placement and timing. Sometimes Fakhar might not be able to take the lead role and in that case he needs to rotate the strike and play the supportive role. A good example of that would be the first T-20 played in Abu Dhabi.

Recommend 0

Branded Content

Indus Cloud signs strategic partnership agreement with PTCL to deliver cloud excellence

The partnership marks a significant step in Indus Cloud’s and PTCL’s joint efforts to strengthen Pakistan’s cloud and data centre infrastructure and expand access to enterprise-grade digital services in the country.