Saim Ayub gave an outstanding all-round performance, taking two wickets after a blistering 40-run knock as Pakistan defeated Australia by 22 runs in the first Twenty20 International at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium on Thursday.
This is Pakistan’s first T20I victory against Australia in more than seven years.
Winning the toss and batting first, Pakistan scored 168 runs at the loss of eight wickets in the allotted overs.
Despite Sahibzada Farhan’s duck in the first over, Saim and skipper Salman Ali Agha managed to anchor Pakistan’s innings with a 74-run partnership.
Returning to Pakistan’s T20 side after a troubled Big Bash League season, Babar Azam could score only 24 runs before losing his wicket to Adam Zampa.
For Australia, spinner Adam Zampa grabbed four wickets, including the crucial ones of Babar, Saim, and Salman. Xavier Bartlett and Mahli Beardman also took a couple of wickets each for Australia.
While defending the target, Pakistan’s decision to include four spinners proved to be vital in dismantling the Australian batting lineup.
Saim took the wicket of fiery-looking Australian Travis Head, who scored 23 runs, with two sixes and two fours. He also took the wicket of Matthew Short in his first over of the innings.
Pakistan’s Abrar Ahmed also joined hands with Saim, taking two wickets, while other spinners, Mohammad Nawaz and Shadab Khan clinched a couple of wickets together.
Australia’s Cameron Green and Xavier Bartlett made 36 and 34 runs respectively. Two of their batters also flung their wickets with perplexing run-outs.
Pakistan restricted the Australian side to 146 runs with eight wickets in 20 overs.
Saim, who earned the Player of the Match award, said after his side’s victory that “conditions were a bit challenging, but our plan was to dominate with the new ball as much as possible”
During the batting powerplay, the goal was dominate sensibly by calculating the innings, watching the ball, and enjoying the process, he said.
On Pakistan’s bowling strategy, Saim said, “We knew that if we hit a good length consistently, it wouldn’t be easy for the batters to score. That was the strategy”.
Skipper Salman lauded his team’s “outstanding” bowling performance but also acknowledged batting challenges.
“It was a great game. We started well with the bat but couldn’t finish the way we wanted. It became challenging after the first 10 overs as the ball stopped coming onto the bat, but I think we were outstanding with the ball,” he said.
He said he would continue to bat at number three as they were expecting a “lot of spin”.
“And I believe I can dominate spin during the powerplay. That’s why I moved up, and that is where I’ll stay.”
The Pakistan captain said 170 was a good enough target given the favourable conditions for spin and Pakistan bowling capability.
“Given how we were placed after ten overs, we probably could have scored 15 more, but I knew 170 would be plenty on this pitch because our spin bowling is outstanding.
“Abrar has been outstanding since his debut. Since the Asia Cup, our spin bowling has been doing really well for us; they are winning us games day in and day out. Hopefully, they can continue this form through to the World Cup,” he said.
After Pakistan’s innings, Australian captain Travis said, “We felt like we dragged it back well after the first ten overs. As the ball got softer, it became harder to score, so we felt we were right in the game. We had moments where we could have opened it up, but the conditions made it difficult.”
He credited bowler Mahli for working his way back into his spell and finished really strongly and said Xavier, too, had very good game.
“Zampa did his thing as usual.”
The Australian skipper said there were definitely positives, but also things to work on.
On his side’s preparation for the upcoming T20 World Cup, he said, “We’ll have to wait and see how it plays out. We have two more opportunities before we head to Sri Lanka, and we want to continue playing as well as we can. Even though the result didn’t go our way today, there are things we did well and areas we can improve.”
The Australian cricket team arrived in Lahore on Wednesday for a T20 tri-series, which was announced earlier this month.
All three matches are scheduled to take place at the Gaddafi Stadium on January 29, 31 and February 1.
Addressing a press conference in Lahore on Wednesday, Australian captain Mitchell Marsh had praised the Green Shirts and said his team was excited about the challenge of playing them on home soil in preparation for the T20 World Cup.
In his remarks, Agha had stressed the importance of the series, saying, “There are some boxes that need to be ticked — this is one of those series where we will tick all boxes”.
The two teams played a three-match Test and an ODI series in March-April 2022, followed by a solitary T20I where they bagged a close three-wicket win at Gaddafi Stadium. Australia also played three of their 2025 Champions Trophy matches in Pakistan.
Teams
Pakistan: Salman Ali Agha (captain), Saim Ayub, Sahibzada Farhan, Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Usman Khan, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Salman Mirza and Abrar Ahmed.
Australia: Travis Head, Matthew Short, Cameron Green, Matthew Renshaw, Cooper Connolly, Mitchell Owen, Josh Philippe, Jack Edwards, Xavier Bartlett, Adam Zampa and Mahli Beardman.
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