Toss Pakistan's decision to bowl against Australia
In the first ODI of the three-match series against Australia at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, Pakistan captain Shaheen Shah Afridi chose to field first. He claimed that spinners' increased involvement in the first innings and the possibility that batting would be simpler under the lights were contributing factors.
Arafat Minhas, a 21-year-old left-arm spinner who has played four Twenty20 Internationals for Pakistan, made his debut. Shadab Khan, a legspinner who last participated in ODIs at the 2023 World Cup, was also added back into the starting lineup. The only pacers used by the hosts were Afridi and Haris Rauf, while the other two spinners were Salman Ali Agha and Abrar Ahmed.

Oliver Peake, a 19-year-old explosive batsman, made his debut for Australia, and Billy Stanlake, a tall, quick spinner, made a seven-year comeback. Australia intended to test Cameron Green's finishing skills by placing him in the middle order, and Nathan Ellis was the other pacemaker in the lineup. Josh Inglis, the captain, had two primary spin options in the starting lineup: Tanveer Sangha and Matthew Kuhnemann.
This is the 1000th ODI for Pakistan. They are now just the third side in the format to reach the 1000-match milestone, behind Australia and India.

Pakistan: 1 Sahibzada Farhan, 2 Maaz Sadaqat, 3 Babar Azam, 4 Ghazi Ghori (wk), 5 Salman Ali Agha, 6 Abdul Samad, 7 Shadab Khan, 8 Arafat Minhas, 9 Shaheen Shah Afridi (capt), 10 Haris Rauf, and 11 Abrar Ahmed

Australia: 1 Matthew Short, 2 Alex Carey, 3 Josh Inglis (captain and wk), 4 Marnus Labuschagne, 5 Cameron Green, 6 Matthew Renshaw, 7 Oliver Peake, 8 Nathan Ellis, 9 Tanveer Sangha, 10 Billy Stanlake, and 11 Matthew Kuhnemann