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Pakistan white-ball captain Mohammad Rizwan attributed his team's loss to Australia in the first ODI to the "luck" factor, saying that fortune favoured the hosts in their two-wicket win in Melbourne on Monday.
Having scored a meagre 203 runs, Pakistan managed to give Australia a run for its money under seaming conditions at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). It was Pakistan's mainstay pace trio, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf, who wreaked havoc in Melbourne by keeping the length short and extracting extra bounce from the surface. Despite putting in everything to defend the total, Pat Cummins's cool demeanour turned out to be the factor that visitors couldn't overcome. Before Cummins smashed 32*, it was an 85-run partnership between Josh Inglis (49) and Steven Smith (44) which laid the foundation for Australia to chase the target in 33.3 overs. In the post-match presentation, Rizwan summed up the result with one line and said, "The luck was with Australia, and that's why they won." Cummins didn't shy away from testing his bowling options. He used seven other bowlers apart from his own spell which was in complete contrast to the approach that Pakistan adopted. Rizwan relied on his four pacers, which included Mohammad Hasnain, to get the job done and was hoping to begin his stint as captain with a victory. He revealed that the idea from the beginning was not to use a fifth or sixth bowling option. "We have always seen a lot of support for Pakistan. Haris Rauf bowled very well. We decided as a bowling group we didn't want to go to the 5th or 6th bowler, try and use the four seamers," Rizwan revealed. Even though Pakistan didn't have enough runs on the board, the team didn't lack courage, which has been their story for quite some time. "We decided whatever the situation, we would fight and show courage. It was good, this kind of match you can't say anything. It's difficult to read anything into this game. The result is in God's hands, but I'm happy with the fight we put up. I was keeping myself busy with field changes," Rizwan remarked. After going 1-0 down on the back of a slender 2-wicket defeat, Pakistan will look to bounce back in the second ODI, which will be played in Adelaide on Friday. (ANI)
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