“It was a little closer than we would have liked,” says Pat Cummins after scoring in the 1st ODI | against Pakistan stole cricket news

Australia narrowly defeated Pakistan by two wickets in a thrilling first One Day International Melbourne Cricket Groundand took a 1-0 lead in the three-game series.
Chasing a target of 204, Australia found itself in a precarious position at 185/8. But a commanding captain's strike of 32, not dismissed by Pat Cummins, took them to the finish line.
Previously, Pakistan struggled to develop substantive partnerships after being placed under obligation. Mohammed Rizwan (44) and Babar Azam (37) offered some resistance Naseem Shah (40) and Shaheen Afridi (24) ensured their team achieved a respectable record with their late goals. Mitchell Starc was the pick of the Australian bowlers, taking 3/33.

Although Cummins used eight throwers and made the chase more difficult than necessary, he defended his strategy. “Tonight we did it, we always prefer to sit in the locker room. “Wonderful game, but it got a little tighter than we would have liked,” Cummins said after the game.
“I try to keep it interesting (with eight bowlers), Marnus (Labuschagne) is always in my ear, so he had to have an over, he got a wicket. Since this is an ODI and I have a lot of all-rounders in the conditions, I might as well use them. We were really good for three quarters. We tried to find some partnerships and tried to play aggressively and sometimes it might not work out but we think there is still scope to try and find some partnerships,” he added.
Starc was named player of the match for his bowling performance. The second ODI will be played on Wednesday at the same venue.