[Watch] Haris Rauf removes Marnus Labuschagne and Glenn Maxwell off consecutive deliveries to set up thrilling finish in 1st PAK vs AUS ODI 2024
Pakistan speedster Haris Rauf brought alive a seemingly one-sided first ODI against Australia with wickets off back-to-back deliveries. In front of a packed crowd in Melbourne, Rauf dismissed dangermen Marnus Labuschagne and Glenn Maxwell off his fifth over to bring the game back into the balance.
Chasing only 204 for victory in the series opener, the Aussies got off to a poor start, reeling at 28/2 in four overs. However, an 85-run third wicket partnership between Josh Inglis and Steve Smith took the Aussies into the driver's seat.
The duo then missed out on their respective half-centuries to be dismissed for 49 and 44 to leave Australia 139/4 in 20 overs. With only 65 runs required, the hosts were still sitting pretty until Rauf had other ideas.
Despite struggling until that point with woeful figures of 35/1 in four overs, the 30-year-old breathed fire in his fifth over. He first removed Labuschagne with a pacy short delivery outside-off that the batter casually helped straight to third man's throat.
Rauf followed that with another pacy short of length delivery that took Maxwell's outside edge through to skipper Mohammad Rizwan to set off wild celebrations from the Pakistan players.
Here is a video of Rauf's magical back-to-back wickets:
Haris Rauf's first wicket was the crucial scalp of Smith, breaking a flourising 85-run third wicket partnership.
Earlier in the day, the Pakistan batters succumed to some outstanding pace-bowling by the Australians. None of the visitors' batters scored even a 50 with skipper Rizwan's 44 in his first game as permanent capain being the top score.
Pakistan crossed the 200-run mark, thanks to some lusty blows in the lower-order by Naseem Shah, who smashed 40 off 39 deliveries.
For Australia, Mitchell Starc was the star, finishing with sensational figures of 3/33 in 10 overs. He was well supported by Pat Cummins and Adam Zampa, who picked up two wickets each.
First Pakistan-Australia ODI headed towards thrilling finish after Rauf's blitz
Australia are making heavy weather of a seemingly simple run-chase, thanks to Haris Rauf's game-changing three-wicket spell.
After his back-to-back wickets reduced them to 139/6, fellow pacer Mohammad Hasnain cleaned up Aaron Hardie for 10. The dismissal dented the Aussies further as they slumped to 155/7 in the 26th over, with another 49 runs still needed for victory.
As things stand currently, skipper Pat Cummins and all-rounder Sean Abott have added an unbeaten 28 to propel Australia to relative safety at 181/7 in 29 overs.