Australia and Pakistan will look to draw first blood in their three match T20 series on Tuesday after the rain won the day when they met for the start of proceedings in Sydney on Sunday. Whoever wins this match in Canberra will be guaranteed a share of the series.
Both sides will be eager to win this match for the competitiveness of the series but also to begin to generate confidence and belief to take into the World T20 with them next year. Both sides have the potential to be competitive there so this should be a high class game.
Australia
The Australians have won three matches this summer and would have won a fourth one had the rain not intervened in Sydney. Their bowling attack has dominated throughout those matches and there are little signs of that coming to an end. I don’t think their batting needs any pressure taken off them but that appears to have really freed them up to deliver the goods. If they can continue that then they are going to be a tough side to beat.
At some point between now and the tournament next year Australia will have to try out some fringe players as they go about determining their best squad for the event. Until then though, the bigger head of steam they can build up, and the more players in their main XI they can get fit and firing the better it is going to be for them.
Pakistan
In contrast to Australia, Pakistan are in a bit of a rut at the minute. Admittedly this is not the format they focus on the most, and they certainly shouldn’t be slammed for focusing on Test cricket, but this is the limited overs format which has the next World Cup so they need to switch some sort of attention to the 20 over sphere at some point. They have made the change in leadership so they are under a new era which is a start.
Babar Azam might turn out to be a good captain but Pakistan need a win under him soon in order for the players to believe in him and get round him. If that can come here they will be given a free shot in Perth to secure the series. If Pakistan are going to win this match then they will need to make sure they bat to the best of their abilities. By and large they have a good limited overs bowling attack, but that makes no odds if they remain sketchy with the willow.
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Team News
With Andrew Tye now ruled out for much of the campaign it would be a surprise if Australia make any changes for this match, unless they decide to bring D’Arcy Short in for a hit. That might wait for the decider in Perth.
Pakistan might well feel changes are needed after three losses against Sri Lanka and what looked like another defeat in Sydney on Sunday. They might think it is worth going in with another batsman to try and put up a significant total.
Betting
The run line for this match is up at 330.5 but I wonder if that is a little too high given the bowling attacks that are on show here. This is a fairly big ground at Manuka Oval and we are still early enough in the summer that the pitch might not be the truest. If we look at the previous match Pakistan really struggled with the bat and actually when you look at their line up there isn’t a great amount of genuine batting outside their top three.
Australia got off to a rollicking start in their innings in Sydney but they remain shocking players of spin so I would have expected them to slow down in the middle overs when Shadab Khan and Imad Wasim got to work. I’m prepared to ride these two bowling attacks to deliver the goods and assuming they do then I don’t think 330.5 runs will be threatened.
Tips
WON – Back Under 330.5 runs for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Betway
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