Abbas Afridi

Maxwell, pacers give Australia 1-0 lead.

The host team took a 1-0 lead in the T20I series at the Gabba thanks to Glenn Maxwell's blitz and the combined efforts of Australia's speed three. Australia scored an impressive 93/4 in a match that was cut to seven overs each side following a protracted period of frustration brought on by rain and lightning. For a Pakistani team that was never in the chase, that sum turned out to be too much.

As expected, after Pakistan asked Australia to bat first, Jake Fraser-McGurk went after the bowling from ball one, hitting consecutive boundaries off Shaheen Afridi in the first over and finishing that over with a six. Pakistan thought they had some relief when Fraser-McGurk found the fielder at cover at the beginning of the second over, but Glenn Maxwell arrived with purpose, used the reverse scoop to great effect, and hit Naseem Shah for four boundaries as Australia rushed to 33 in two overs. Haris Rauf, Maxwell's arch-enesis of the past few days, calmed things down with a fantastic over in which he conceded just three runs and took out Short.

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 eventually 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 barely a leading edge, Xavier Bartlett hit first ball. Before eventually 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.

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).