Glenn Maxwell ton leads Australia to win vs Pakistan in first rain-hit T20I contest
Australia vs Pakistan
SYDNEY: (Web Desk) Australia have taken the crucial lead in this three-match T20I series by defeating Pakistan by 29 runs on Thursday.

This is a quick turnaround for the even more crucial second game which could either see Australia seal the series or Pakistan level it all up.

The 2nd T20I will be played on Saturday, 16 November at the SCG in Sydney and will begin at 8 am GMT.

Earlier in the day, there was inclement weather throughout, but the ground staff did well to get the ground ready for a 7-over-a-side game. The Aussies smashed 93 thanks to Marcus Stoinis and Glenn Maxwell which they defended easily.

On the other side, no Pakistani batter could get going. Their highest scorer was Abbas Afridi who batted way down the order at number 8 and scored 20 runs off 10 balls but that did nothing remarkable.

At the start, Pakistan lost a lot of wickets. Xavier Bartlett and Nathan Ellis were absolutely brilliant. They took three each and that killed the game. Later on, Adam Zampa picked up a couple of wickets well to round off the game for the hosts.

After winning the match, Josh Inglis, the Australian skipper, said that it was really satisfying to get the win when at one point it looked like there wouldn’t be any game. He added that it was good to get the first win of the series and would look to get the job done in Sydney. He mentioned that the pacers did a great job of taking wickets in the early overs.

Pakistani captain Mohammad Rizwan said that given it was a 7-over game, it was difficult to keep things in check. He went on to applaud Glenn Maxwell for the way he played and that ended up being the difference in the end.

Glenn Maxwell is the Player of the Match for his quickfire knock of 43 from just 19 balls. Maxwell said that he has had a lot of fun out there and he gets a good opportunity to play and is pretty happy with the job done. Adds that He did play a few games of domestic cricket and that helps in preparing for international. Concludes that he is happy with the overall team performance.