Ellis back with a bang in Pakistan's demolition

Nathan Ellis shrugged off two months of disappointment with a fantastic three-wicket haul in Australia's big win over Pakistan in Brisbane.

Ellis was left shattered when the left hamstring injury he picked up playing in the Hundred forced him to miss the entirety of Australia's tour of the UK in September.

The skilful right-armer was destined to lead the Aussies' attack on that month-long trip to Scotland and England, with established stars Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitch Starc either injured or rested.

The tour included three T20s against the Scots, followed by three T20s and five ODIs against the English.

Of the 11 scheduled games, Ellis played exactly none, and was sent home after the first match in Scotland when it became clear his injury would be better off at home in Tasmania.

After countless hours in the Bellerive Oval nets and gym, Ellis made an extremely successful return to the green and gold, sending down the maximum allotment of two overs and walking away with figures of 3-9.

"To miss any (games for Australia) is obviously disappointing, but that tour specifically, I knew I was going to get a good opportunity and a good run in it to play some games for Australia," Ellis told reporters after Australia's 29-run win.

"It was one I had pinned in the calendar, knowing the schedule and the workload the stalwarts (Cummins, Starc, Hazlewood), I knew I was going to get a good run at it.

"So to miss that was really, really disappointing.

"I was over there, I tried to push and get up to (play) Scotland. But, it wasn't to be."

Ellis struck immediately when introduced on Thursday night, taking the wicket of former Pakistan captain Babar Azam, with his first ball of the night.

It was Jake Fraser-McGurk who held a good catch a couple of metres inside the deep midwicket rope, and the opener batter would be in the action two balls later when Mohammad Irfan Khan skied an Ellis back-of-the-hand slower ball to a similar area of the field.

The crafty quick, again superstitiously sporting his lucky black Casio watch, celebrated both wickets with joyous clapping, no doubt mixed in with a little relief.

Ellis said his approach at the bowling crease didn't change, despite the reduced over turning the standard T20 into a whirlwind 14-over match.

"It's high-octane, it's adrenaline, my stuff doesn't really change," Ellis said.

"It felt like I got hit in a face, my first game back tonight.

"It was 'bang' and things were happening real quick.

"The only thing (that changes) is a few less metres on the GPS, which will be nice with a few T20s in the next three (four) days."

The sides move on to Sydney for the second T20I on Saturday night before the series concludes in Hobart on Monday.