Pakistan level series with classy win

The match in a tweet: At last! Captain Hafeez the hero as Pakistan win first match against Australia on Australian soil in 12 years after the home side collapsed with the bat

The scorecard: Australia 220 (Smith 60, Amir 3-47, Wasim 2-37, Junaid 2-40) lost to Pakistan 4-221 (Hafeez 72, Malik 42no) by six wickets with 14 balls remaining

The drought-breaker: The last time Pakistan beat Australia on Australian soil, Inzamam-ul-Haq was their captain, batsman Mohammad Yousuf was known as Yousuf Youhana and Brad Hogg was a 33-year-old veteran of the Australian side. It's been 4,368 days since that victory at the WACA Ground on January 30, 2005, the win tonight their first here against Australia in 17 matches across all formats. It was also their first victory over Australia at the MCG in 32 years. Truly a historic performance.

The hero: Nothing quite sums up the wonderful unpredictability of Pakistan cricket quite like the fortunes of Mohammad Hafeez in the past two weeks. The veteran played just four of Pakistan's 11 ODIs last year and wasn't even named in the initial squad for this series, but was added to the touring party a week ago after a request from coach Mickey Arthur and captain Azhar Ali. Not only has Hafeez regained his spot in the side, he was named captain for today's match and led the way with a top score of 72 as his side overcame a late wobble to cruise to their victory target of 221. The right-hander's dismissal, the result of a wild swipe across the line just as Pakistan's run chase looked to be on some shaky ground, only added to his entertaining and unexpected return to the captaincy.

The drop: Defending a target of just 220, Australia needed everything to go right in the run chase and they got off to the perfect start when Hafeez edged Mitchell Starc straight to Steve Smith at second slip from just the fourth ball of the innings. But the skipper spilled the simplest of catches, and copped a low blow for his troubles, a missed chance that proved costly.

The comeback: Playing his first international match in more than 18 months, paceman Junaid Khan bowled with good pace and impressive movement to dismiss both of Australia's openers and give Pakistan the perfect start after losing the toss. A late addition to the ODI squad following the departure of Mohammad Irfan, Junaid beat the bat of David Warner on more than one occasion and then found his edge before he also lured a nick out of Usman Khawaja, who was well held by Sharjeel Khan at slip. The left-armer finished with 2-40 from eight overs and was a key figure in Pakistan's first international win of this tour.

The promotion: Mitchell Marsh's maiden innings at number four in the batting order lasted only one delivery, and also earned the criticism of former Australia skipper Mark Taylor. Khawaja's return to the side to open and Chris Lynn's absence due to injury led to a reshuffle of Australia's batting order from the opening match in Brisbane, with Khawaja opening the innings and Travis Head slipping back to No.5. It meant Marsh came to the wicket at second-drop and the allrounder pushed the first delivery he faced to Imad Wasim at cover, handing Mohammad Amir his first wicket. It led Taylor, commentating on Wide World of Sports, to label Marsh's elevation in the order as a "flawed" decision. "He’s not a technically sound batsman to bat at the top of the order," Taylor said. "I think Australia’s idea to bat him at No.4 four is flawed at the moment until that technique improves."

The captain: Nothing summed up Australia's stop-start batting performance quite like the vital innings of their skipper Steve Smith. The normally free-flowing right-hander rebuilt his side's innings and needed 91 balls to bring up his fifty, the slowest of his 16 half-centuries in one-day cricket and the slowest Australian ODI fifty since Michael Clarke also took 91 balls against England in Southampton more than seven years ago.

The tactics: While Pakistan's pacemen did most of the damage with the ball, their spin trio of the impressive Imad Wasim as well as veterans Shoaib Malik and Hafeez were just as crucial in restricting Australia to such a low total. The three-man spin attack finished with 3-97 from 24 overs between them and Pakistan's reliance on spin was in complete contrast to Australia's tactics later in the night. With frontline spinner Adam Zampa again overlooked, Head bowled the 14th of the innings – which went for 11 runs – and wasn’t brought back into the attack until there were just 13 runs required to win as Steve Smith relied almost exclusively on his pace bowlers. And as was the case in the series opener, Glenn Maxwell didn’t make an appearance at the bowling crease at all.

The stat: Today's match was the first time in 23 ODIs and more than two years that Australia have been bowled out inside 50 overs on home soil. And it's been three-and-a-half years, and 75 matches, since they last won a match anywhere in the world having been bowled out.

The wash-up: Pakistan's shock victory breathes life into the series as the two sides head to Perth on tomorrow for the third match of the series at the WACA Ground on Thursday. And the victory has guaranteed Pakistan won't lose any ground in the ICC one-day rankings, no matter what happens in the rest of the series, a handy boost in their quest for automatic World Cup qualification.