Pakistan staged a resounding fightback in the ODI series, taking it 2-1after Australia had won the Test series and white-ball opener; and apassionate home crowd now awaits the requital of the T20 World Cupsemi-final defeat in the tour-ending T20.
After Australia’s gritty 1-0 win in the Test series, Pakistan bounced backstrongly in the ODIs, registering their first bilateral series win over theopponents in a staggering two decades.
And now, as the two teams gear up for the final game of the tour – the loneT20I at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium – memories of their last face-off in the ICCMen’s T20 World Cup 2021 semi-finallink are still fresh,despite the next edition being just six-and-a-half months away.
Australia’s young, new-look squad means that only three of their winningT20 World Cup XI are available to take the field. The most experienced ofthe lot, skipper Aaron Finch, has another chance to rediscover his best,after having registered scores of 23, 0 and 0 in the ODI series.
Travis Head and Ben McDermott’s recent form lends plenty of positivity tothe side, with Marcus Stoinis expected to shoulder additionalresponsibility in the middle order in absence of Glenn Maxwell and MitchellMarsh. Adam Zampa, the sixth-ranked T20I bowler could be the x-factoragainst a star-studded Pakistan line-up.
The hosts’ have been in red-hot T20I form of late, having swept asideBangladesh and West Indies 3-0 each post the T20 World Cup. Skipper BabarAzam and Mohammed Rizwan, the top-two ranked batters in the MRF Tyres ICCT20I Rankingslink formthe backbone of the line-up that features seasoned power-hitters in FakharZaman, Asif Ali and Khushdil Shah.
Shaheen Shah Afridi leads the bowling unit, to go with Haris Rauf’s rawpace and the skilled spin-bowling expertise of Shadab Khan, who couldreturn after injury kept him out of the ODI leg.*Remember the last time*
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The last T20I clash between the two teams – the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup2021 semifinal in Dubai – was an all-time classic, culminating in athrilling finish.
Unbeaten till that point in the competition, Pakistan put up 176/4 afterbeing put in to bat, with Rizwan (67 off 52), Zaman (55* off 32) and Babar(39 off 34) being the chief contributors.
David Warner and Mitchell Marsh got the chase going after Finch fell for afirst-ball duck, before Shadab spun a web to reduce Australia to 96/5 inthe 13th over, leaving 81 required off 46. Marcus Stoinis and Matthew Wadebrought it down to 20 off 10 with some quality-ball striking, before thelatter was shelled by Hasan Ali at deep midwicket to add to the drama.
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