Australia stage late fightback to seal victory in fourth ODI

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Australia held their nerve to stage a late comeback and win the fourth One-day International (ODI) against Pakistan by six runs.

Chasing a target of 278 runs, Pakistan suffered an early setback as opener Shan Masood fell without troubling the scorers.

Debutant Abid Ali gave much-needed impetus to the Pakistan innings through a flurry of boundaries in the powerplay.

Abid found an able ally in middle-order batsman Haris Sohail to form a 76-run partnership. However, Sohail fell into Aussie off-spinner Nathon Lyon's trap and got caught on 25.

Wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Rizwan and the debutant Abid, continued their surge towards the target through a partnership of 144.

Abid made his opportunity count and scored a brilliant century on his ODI debut.

Although, the 31-year-old slowed down towards the later part of his innings, Rizwan kept the run-rate in check through his breezy knock.

Australia needed a glut of wickets to stage a fightback and leg-spinner Adam Zampa provided the breakthrough by removing Abid on 112, which raised hopes of a comeback by Australia.

Pacer Coulter-Nile applied further brakes by removing hard-hitting batsman Umar Akmal (7) and middle-order batsman and another debutant Saad Ali (7).

Rizwan scored his second century of the series, but failed to up the ante as Pakistan continued to lose momentum towards the end.

Stand-in captain Imad Wasim also failed to connect most of his shots with Pakistan falling short of the target by 6 runs.

Earlier, Australia posted 277-7 in their allotted 50 overs, after Pakistan won the toss and opted to field first.

Australia captain Aaron Finch and opener Usman Khawaja gave a decent start to Australian innings through an opening partnership of 56.

However, for the first time in the series, Finch failed to convert his start as he fell for 39.

Pakistan spinners finally came to the fore, as all-rounder Imad Wasim bagged the wickets of top-order batsman Shaun Marsh and middle-order batsman Peter Hanscomb in his first outing as captain.

Leg-spinner Yasir Shah also spun his web to remove all-rounder Marcus Stoinis cheaply, while also trapping Khawaja leg-before-wicket for 62.

Australia was in a spot of bother and required all-rounder Glenn Maxwell to repeat his third ODI antics.

The all-rounder formed a century partnership with wicketkeeper-batsman Alex Carey (55) to keep Australia on track for a strong finish.

Maxwell eventually got run out for 98, but not before propelling Australia to a competitive total.

Maxwell was adjudged player of the match for his allround display.