Umar Akmal smashed 94 off 54 balls as Pakistan piled up 191-5 after being sent in to bat by Australia in the World Twenty20 Super-10 group two match in Dhaka on Sunday.
Elder brother Kamran Akmal contributed a run-a-ball 31 and Shahid Afridi returned unbeaten on 20 off 11 balls as Pakistan bounced back after a morale-sapping loss to India on Friday.
The Akmal brothers put on 96 for the third wicket after Pakistan were reduced to 25-2 by the fifth over, losing the key wickets of Ahmed Shehzad and skipper Mohammad Hafeez.
Umar Akmal hit four sixes and nine boundaries before he fell in the final over, caught on the fence attempting another big hit off Mitchell Starc.
Pakistan added 29 runs in the last three overs to leave the Australians facing a stiff target of 9.6 runs an over at the Sher-e-Bangla stadium.
Australia's 43-year-old spinner Brad Hogg, the oldest player ever in the World Twenty20 competitions, had a forgettable outing in his team's first match.
Hogg dropped Umar Akmal on the mid-wicket fence when the batsman was on 22 and then conceded 29 runs in three wicketless overs after being called on to bowl in the ninth over.
Part-time spinner Aaron Finch was hit for 18 runs in his first over, the 12th of the innings, as Umar Akmal reached his half-century with his third six.
Kamran Akmal, who was also dropped early in the innings, was finally dismissed in the 13th over when David Warner held a running catch on the point fence off the bowling of Nathan Coulter-Nile.
Pakistan made one change from the team that lost to India, replacing seamer Junaid Khan with 35-year-old left-arm spinner Zulfiqar Babar.
India, the West Indies and hosts Bangladesh are the other teams in the group, from which the top two will advance to the semi-finals. – AFP