ABOUT THE MATCH
Australia will look to maintain their excellent recent T20i form when they take on Pakistan in the third and final T20i of this three-game series. The match takes place at Perth Stadium on November 8.
The Aussies, led by Steve Smith’s 80* from 51 balls, won the second game of this series by seven wickets after the first was cut short by rain. Across this series, and the one with Sri Lanka, Smith, David Warner, and Aaron Finch have all been in fine batting form.
Pakistan, who lost at home to Sri Lanka before this series, are in the mire but Iktikhar Ahmed’s 62* from 34 balls did at least mean they could take some positives last time out – even if they remain big outsiders.
TOSS PREDICTION
Each team has won the toss once so far, though Pakistan has ended up batting first both times. Perth could be a tempting one to bowl first on.
PITCH AND CONDITIONS
Perth is set to be hot on Friday, even in the late afternoon, with temperatures in the 30s, zero chance of rain and very little cloud to disrupt things either.
Perth’s WACA Ground is fast and bouncy and the Perth Stadium wicket was curated along the same lines – it is still good for fast bowlers, though not quite as hard as its sister pitch.
PROBABLE PLAYING XI OF AUSTRALIA
Aaron Finch (c), David Warner, Steve Smith, Alex Carey (wk), D’Arcy Short, Ashton Turner, Billy Stanlake, Ashton Agar, Mitchell Starc, Sean Abbott, Adam Zampa
PROBABLE PLAYING XI OF PAKISTAN
Babar Azam (c), Fakhar Zaman, Haris Sohail, Imam-ul-Haq, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Irfan
MATCH PREVIEW
AUSTRALIA
- With one eye on the ICC T20 World Cup next summer, Australia may look to rotate their team for this final game of the series.
- D’Arcy Short could come in for Ben McDermott, while Billy Stanlake is waiting for another opportunity too.
- Pat Cummins has been rested, which could open the door for Stanlake or Sean Abbott.
- Australia earned three big wins against Sri Lanka prior to this series and look to be heading for another series of successes against Pakistan.
- They were well on top when the rain came down to disrupt the opening game but they made up for last time in the second match Steve Smith hitting 80* from 51 balls to lead a chase of 151 as Australia won by seven wickets.
- How long can Pakistan continue to overlook Imam-ul-Haq, given their poor form in T20i cricket? He and Mohmmad Hasnain are among the options to bring in as they look to arrest their poor form, while Muhammad Musa, Khushdil Shah, and Usman Qadir are in the touring squad too.
- Babar Azam has hit half-centuries in both games against Australia for Pakistan so far. He was 59* from 38 balls when rain cut the Pakistan innings short on 107/5 from 15 overs in the first match of the series.
- More rain then spared the tourists after Australia had raced out of the blocks in pursuit of that target.
- In the second T20i, Azam hit 50 from 38 balls and Iktikhar Ahmed a late 62* from 34, but Pakistan’s total of 150/6 was chased down for the loss of just three wickets Australia winning with nine balls to spare.
PROBABLE WINNING TEAM:
Australia will remain as favorites and their record against Pakistan is like crazy. We hope Aussie’s will snap a win in this encounter.
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