Maxwell, Bowlers Power Australia to 1-0 Series Lead

In the T20I series at the Gabba, Australia's home team took a 1-0 lead thanks to Glenn Maxwell's blitz and the combined efforts of their speed three. After a protracted period of frustration owing to rain and lightning, the game was cut to seven overs each side, but Australia still managed to record an impressive total of 93/4. That sum proved to be too much for a Pakistani team that was never really involved in the hunt.

When Australia was asked to bat first by Pakistan, Jake Fraser-McGurk immediately attacked the bowling. In the first over, he hit consecutive boundaries off Shaheen Afridi, and Matthew Short finished with a six. Fraser-McGurk found the fielder at cover at the beginning of the second over, giving Pakistan some relief, but Glenn Maxwell entered with purpose, struck Naseem Shah for four boundaries with the reverse scoop, and Australia quickly reached 33 in just two overs. Haris Rauf, Maxwell's archenemy of the past several days, put an end to the situation with a brilliant over in which he picked up Short and gave up just three runs.

But Maxwell persisted at the other end, staggering Shaheen for a six over third man before hitting Rauf for two sixes in a single over to finally get one over him. Using a slower delivery, Abbas Afridi deceived Tim David in the same over and ended Maxwell's heroics. Marcus Stoinis, however, dashed Pakistan's chances of ending the innings strongly. Stoinis hit a boundary down the ground in the last over that Naseem bowled, and he finished the innings with another six and a four to help Australia reach 90.

The pacer had the last laugh when he dismissed the opener two balls later, despite Sahibzada Farhan starting the chase with consecutive boundaries off Spencer Johnson. After Mohammad Rizwan was caught at backward point with only a leading edge, Xavier Bartlett struck first ball. Before finally connecting, Usman Khan took a crazy swing a few times, but his happiness was short-lived as Bartlett also claimed his wicket.

Nathan Ellis then startled the visitors, turning 16/3 into 16/5. Before Irfan Khan mishit one to fall for a two-ball duck, Ellis bowled his usual slower delivery first up and got rid of Babar Azam. Abbas Afridi's two lustful punches barely narrowed the margin of loss, meaning the chase was over for them.

Brief scores: Australia defeated Pakistan 64/9 in 7 overs (Abbas Afridi 20; Nathan Ellis 3/9, Xavier Bartlett 3/13) by 29 runs, scoring 93/4 in 7 overs (Glenn Maxwell 43, Marcus Stoinis 21*; Abbas Afridi 2/9).