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Australia begin their tour of UAE with a T20I against Pakistan on Sunday. You can follow the live scores and blog of this game starting 2am Monday AEST.
The last time these two sides had met in a T20I, Pakistan had run away winners, inflicting the Aussies their first of three defeats in the World T20 2014. It was a game that the Aussies would like to forget in a hurry.
Chasing a stiff 192 for a win from their 20 overs, Australia looked to have gotten themselves into a position from where a win looked more than just an outside chance. In fact, from 2/126 in the 12th over, Australia should have sealed the win more often than not.
Instead a combination of Umar Gul, Shahid Afridi and Bilawal Bhatti triggered a stunning Aussie collapse that left them 15 runs short of the target.
Australia went on to lose to West Indies in an ill-tempered match after that and looked completely deflated in their chase against India a couple of days, falling to 86 all out in that innings.
From that game against Pakistan, Australia’s opening batting combination is still intact. One of them, Aaron Finch, has been promoted to lead the side after George Bailey’s ‘retirement’ from the format, while the other, David Warner is returning to the side after the birth of his child.
Glenn Maxwell will also take a spot in the middle-order but missing from the XI will be Shane Watson, Bailey and Brad Hodge. What has continued to surprise many fans is that Brad Haddin has retained his place in the T20I squad despite being just over a month short of his 37th birthday and having to feature in both the other two formats as well.
The bowling will be bolstered by the presence of Mitchell Starc, who likes this format, while James Faulkner and Kane Richardson will give him company in the quick bowling department.
In the absence of Mitchell Marsh and Watson, 22-year-old Sean Abbott could make his debut if the pitch plays out as promised by Tony Hemming, the curator – full of bounce and pacey.
Pakistan’s preparation in the lead-up to this game has been hampered by a string of news that have gone against them.
First there was an issue with the Younis Khan non-selection in the ODIs, which led to an emotional, public outburst by the veteran cricketer. It landed him a reprimand but more than anything else, it would have led to a sense of discontent among other players as well.
Then came the Saeed Ajmal chucking issue. Fans will sit on both sides of the fence about whether or not it was the right time to send Ajmal packing, but the essence of the matter is that the bowler’s arm does look like it bends more than the prescribed angle. Instead of fighting over the semantics, it would make more sense to try and work Ajmal back into bowling contention.
Even as Pakistan were recovering from this Ajmal blow came another one – an injury to Mohammad Hafeez has ruled him out of the series as well, leaving the ‘hosts’ without too many spin bowling options in their line-up.
It also implies that they will need to bring in someone to replace Hafeez, the batsman, in the top-order and that gives a look of inexperience to the side.
He may have been appointed as their newest captain, but Shahid Afridi has been at the helm before and knows what he can expect from his team and the format. On other occasions, the worry with Pakistan cricket is usually to do with whether they can prevent from imploding when the going is good but this time it is more of trying Afridi to get the best of his inexperienced team.
Will he be able to overturn their cup of woes and clinch this game or can Australia’s seventh T20I captain, Finch, make a winning start to his captaincy career?
Join me for this T20I between Pakistan and Australia on Sunday here and you can follow the live score of this game from 2am and post your comments below.
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