Pakistan’s opening match of the three-match home ODI series against Australia at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium on Saturday marked their 1,000th ODI.
The Green Shirts, who played their maiden ODI against New Zealand in Christchurch in 1973, have thus far played 999 ODI matches, out of which they won 527 and lost 442. Nine matches were tied, while 21 fixtures ended with no result.
Since their debut ODI appearance, Pakistan achieved multiple ground-breaking feats in the format, the highlight of which were their ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup glory in 1992 and the ICC Men’s Champions Trophy triumph in 2017, for which they crushed arch-rivals India by 180 runs in the blockbuster final.
For the unversed, with their home series opener, Pakistan will become only the third team to feature in 1000 ODIs, joining Australia and India.
Notably, India top the list of the most ODI appearances with 1075 matches, closely followed by Australia, who have featured in 1019 games.
At the toss for the historic fixture, Australia captain Josh Inglis presented Pakistan counterpart Shaheen Shah Afridi with a commemorative souvenir – a bat with a bail and three bails attached on top of it, referring to Pakistan’s 1000th ODI match.
Pakistan captain Afridi termed representing Pakistan in the landmark fixture “a big achievement” before sharing that the team would enjoy and push to win it.
“It is a special occasion for Pakistan. It’s a happy thing that when Pakistanis represent in ODI, it is a big achievement. So I think it is a special moment for the whole team and we will enjoy it and push for it,” Shaheen said after winning the toss and electing to field first against Australia.
