Australia opt to bowl; Ayub and Irfan Khan debut
Written by I Dig SportsToss Australia chose to bowl vs Pakistan
Australia's quicks will hope to make early incisions with Mitchell Starc coming off seven wickets in a Sheffield Shield game at the MCG just a fortnight ago. Josh Hazlewood is not playing as he is currently playing in the Shield for New South Wales and will join the squad for the second ODI in Adelaide.
Matthew Short and Jake Fraser-McGurk will open the batting for Australia as expected with Travis Head and Mitchell Marsh absent for the entire series on paternity leave. Josh Inglis will slot in at No. 4 as he did a couple of times in England, with Steven Smith batting at No. 3 and Marnus Labuschagne remaining at No. 5. Aaron Hardie has been listed ahead of Glenn Maxwell but the order may be fluid as Australia like to use Maxwell as a floater.
Pakistan are playing their first ODI since the 2023 World Cup. Test coach Jason Gillespie takes charge as the interim coach after the resignation of Gary Kirsten as Pakistan's white-ball coach just prior to the tour.
Australia 1 Matthew Short, 2 Jake Fraser-McGurk, 3 Steven Smith, 4 Josh Inglis (wk), 5 Marnus Labuschagne, 6 Aaron Hardie, 7 Glenn Maxwell, 8 Sean Abbott, 9 Pat Cummins (capt), 10 Mitchell Starc, 11 Adam Zampa
Pakistan 1 Saim Ayub, 2 Abdullah Shafique, 3 Babar Azam, 4 Mohammad Rizwan (wk), 5 Kamran Ghulam, 6 Salman Ali Agha, 7 Irfan Khan, 8 Shaheen Shah Afridi, 9 Naseem Shah, 10 Haris Rauf, 11 Mohammad Hasnain