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A supremely confident Australia will look to close out the series against Pakistan when they meet in the second ODI at Dubai on Friday and you can follow the live scores and blog of this game starting 9pm AEDT.
A team that wins their first two games on an away tour is bound to be confident, especially when they are up against a team whose batsmen do not quite know where will their next run come from.
That has been the story of the Pakistani batting for some time now. While some of the blame can be apportioned to the lack of experience in their order, it can also be blamed on the lack of batsmen coming through from their domestic setup.
A resigned-sounding captain Misbah ul Haq sounded spoke of the diminishing confidence among the batsmen in his press conference, a chink that the Australian bowlers will look to exploit once again.
The point to be noted from the first ODI was that it wasn’t as if the pitch was an alien one to what Pakistan wanted – it was slow and turning and should have helped their batsmen as much as it helped their spinners.
Instead, Pakistan frittered away a decent start from Ahmed Shehzad and Asad Shafiq, who had taken the score up to 1/59 in 12 overs. The others, bar Umar Akmal, failed to chip in with anything meaningful and Australia’s 255 looked as distant as the Himalayas.
Australia had gone into the game with Sean Abbott instead of Mitchell Starc, and the new-comer will be reasonably content with his effort.
However, if reports are to be believed, Australia will be looking to bring in a second mainline spinner into their line and that could mean Abbott will have to sit out. Xavier Doherty, who replaced the injured Mitchell Marsh in the squad and joined the squad after the first game, could join in.
Brad Haddin, in his press conference, spoke of how dangerous Pakistan could be when they are cornered. On other days, this might have sounded like your typical lip service from an opposition player not wanting to instigate a struggling team but Pakistan have a history of bouncing back from the dumps.
The question this time, however, is who will guide them out of where they are currently – the out-of-form Misbah, the talented but highly mercurial Umar Akmal, the most experienced Shahid Afridi or one of the other youngsters.
More of the same can be expected from Australia even as Aaron Finch searches for a few runs, while George Bailey and Glenn Maxwell look for their missing form in the middle.
James Faulkner hasn’t had too much success with the ball in recent times, which could propel to make a change too, but Australia seem to be valuing his batting skills at the number six position.
They do have Phil Hughes as one of their options to take up that slot and get more out of Maxwell and Steven Smith with the ball. Hughes had a decent series against South Africa in Zimbabwe but it all depends on the kind of plans the management has in the lead-up to the World Cup.
Join me for this second ODI between Pakistan and Australia on Friday here and you can follow the live score of this game from 9pm and post your comments below.
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