It was never right, not from the very first bowl, not at all. Australia was totally seized by Pakistan’s bowling attack in the first One Day International, as the greens damaged the Australian batting line-up so easily that at times it looked like the team was playing the Australian under 16. This is Australia’s second  lowest total in t20 format, the Kangaroos having scored 79 against England in 2005.
The destruction here was a similar story; they went one after another as Pakistani spinners finished the batting lineup for 89. The greens chase in return wasn’t much of an effort. Despite losing three early wickets, their batsmen settled down and the boundaries kept coming as they finished the target with 5 overs to spare.

It all started with Watson when Gul choked him for 8. Next came in the newly promoted Hussey at number three. The batsmen gave him an easy catch as he was caught totally off-guard with Tanvir’s slower delivery. Then it was Warner’s turn, becomming the top scorer as he made 22 from 25 balls. But even Warner didn’t upset the bowlers, and completely misread Hafeez off spin. In came David Hussey who provided the debutante Raza Hasan with his first wicket. The batsman went for clearing Hassan but instead fell in the waiting hands of Ajmal at long on.

Bailey, the skipper who put up a sluggish struggle along with Warner, didn’t impress the bowlers for a long time as his wicket continued the momentum of Australian destruction. Hafeez dismissed him with a top edge at deep backward square leg for 14. The magic of Pakistani spinners continued as Wade and White attempted a recovery, but it was too late and Riaz tricked Wade in giving a catch at deep midwicket for 6 facing only 13.

Maxwell, Hero of last match didn’t survive too long and Ajmal had his revenge when he was picked up by Nasir at deep square leg for 4. The next ball saw the departure of White on 15 as Ajmal cleverly bowled an off spin while the batsmen expected a Doosra. Doherty was cleared by Tanvir and Australia was restricted to 89 with three balls to spare. Tanvir went on to be the highest wicket taker as Ajmal beat him on the economy rate.

Pakistan’s chase was confident from the start, The 30 run stand by Hafeez and Nazir who returned to the International circuit after a hiatus of 2 and a half years looked aggressive and confident in front of Australian bowlers who, in-turn had nothing to defend. Cummins dismissed Hafeez at Midwicket and soon after Jameshed’s defense was holed by a smart in swinger from Ben Hilfenhaus.

Nazir’s resistance didn’t last long enough and he was trapped by Watson on 22. But it was too late for Australia before Akmal punished the bowlers while Malik remained strong at the other end. Akmal played strokes all around the wicket and sent Pakistan home with 5 overs to spare

The game was a totally one sided affair from the first five overs, the newly built Dubai pitch was slow and the turn was coming much easier than anticipated and it resulted in complications for the Aussies, the Batsmen failed to pick up Ajmal totally, which in recent times has been a problem for almost all batting Line ups around the world. Riaz Hassan the debutante had some clever delivers up his sleeve and looked promising from the word go. Pakistan looked immaculate in the field today and the catches were held effortlessly and the boundaries halted. In short everything seemed right in the unpredictable side.

Australia on the other hand really needs to work with this format, this game showed everything but improvement in their preparation for the upcoming t20 World cup in Sri Lanka. If the kangaroos don’t come up with a plan soon then their current ranking which is lower than Bangladesh and West Indies would be all but stable when the t20 World cup ends.