Toss Pakistan chose to bat v Australia
Shoaib Malik opted to bat in the series opener in Sharjah. On a pitch perfect for batting, the stand-in Pakistan captain had an easy decision to make against Australia, with Aaron Finch admitting he would have liked to do the same. Pakistan handed debuts to Shan Masood and Mohammad Abbas, while Umar Akmal was a notable inclusion after spending over two years out of the side.
Australia opted for two spinners in Adam Zampa and Nathan Lyon in a side largely similar to the one that beat India in the final ODI of a five-match series last week. Just two changes were made to that side, with Nathan Coulter-Nile and Shaun Marsh coming in for Pat Cummins and Ashton Turner. This is the five-match ODI leg of a series that saw two Tests and three T20Is played in October 2018.
Pakistan: 1 Imam-ul-Haq, 2 Shan Masood, 3 Umar Akmal, 4 Haris Sohail, 5 Shoaib Malik (capt), 6 Mohammad Rizwan (wk), 7 Faheem Ashraf 8 Imad Wasim, 9 Yasir Shah, 10 Mohammad Amir, 11 Mohammad Abbas
Australia: 1 Usman Khawaja 2 Aaron Finch (capt) 3 Peter Handscomb 4 Shaun Marsh 5 Marcus Stoinis 6 Glenn Maxwell 7 Alex Carey (wk) 8 Jhye Richardson 9 Nathan Coulter-Nile 10 Nathan Lyon 11 Adam Zampa
Source: ESPN Crickinfo