AUS vs PAK 1st ODI: Melbourne Cricket Ground Pitch Report

Steve Smith looking at MCG Pitch (Source@ICC/X.com)Steve Smith looking at MCG Pitch (Source@ICC/X.com)

The action is coming thick and fast in the world of cricket and it is time for Pakistan's white-ball tour of Australia to begin with a three-match ODI series. The first match of the series will be played at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground and it promises to be an interesting encounter with good mixture of young and experienced players in both the teams.

For the home team, Australia, Pat Cummins, their regular skipper is back for this series while for Pakistan, it is a start of a new era under new leader Mohammad Rizwan. Both teams would be looking to start the series with a win and get their preparation for the Champions Trophy started on a positive note.

So, with plenty of exciting cricket expected, let's see how the surface will behave in the opening ODI of the series at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).

Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) ODI Ground Stats

Criterion
Data
Matches Played160
Matches won by team batting first78
Matches won by team batting second
77
Average first innings score
221
Average second innings score
194

Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) Pitch Report: Batters Or Bowlers, Who Will Be More Successful?

The pitch in MCG generally provides good balance between bat and ball. The pacers usually get good help off the pitch, especially with the new ball. So, they are likely to play a big role throughout the course of the match while spinners generally do not play an important role in MCG. The batting gets easy as the pitch eases out with the surface offering good true bounce for the strokemakers. 

So, the team winning the toss would like to bowl first and hope that their pacers make full use of the help offered by the pitch initially. The boundaries are bigger at the ground too, so the bowlers can use the dimensions of the ground to their advantage. Expect a middling first innings total between 250-300 in the first ODI.

Players To Watch Out At Melbourne Cricket Ground

Naseem Shah

The young pacer is a good bowler both with the new ball and at the death. He has the ability to move the ball both ways off the pitch and in the air, and MCG is a perfect track for him. He bowls a consistent good-length and can extract good help from the deck. He would also be itching to deliver a big performance after missing Test matches at home and he is certainly a player to watch out.

Josh Hazlewood

Josh Hazlewood is another bowler who can be effective at MCG. He also bowls consistent lines and lengths and his length deliveries would be pretty handy on this pitch. Pakistan's batting line-up too is pretty volatile and they could find it tough against disciplined bowling of Josh Hazlewood.

Babar Azam

The star Pakistan batter has not been in great form in recent times. He was recently dropped from Test squad, and would be itching to prove a point. He has a brilliant ODI record against Australia too with an average of over 60 and we can expect a big performance from the right-hander in this series.