The Cricket T20 World Cup returns with a double header on Friday with the opening match being a very big one for Australia when they take on Pakistan.
Australia have a win and a defeat in this tournament so far and a win here would set up a knockout match against India over the weekend. Defeat here and they need a whole host of results to go their way to make it through to the semi-finals.
Needing results to go their way is the position Pakistan find themselves in after a second defeat in the tournament. They were in with every chance of beating New Zealand in their previous match but couldn’t find the big shots when they needed them and now they have to win and win big to maintain any chance of qualifying.
Australia aren’t likely to make wholesale changes to a winning combination from their previous match. There has been plenty of talk about needing Aaron Finch to play but nobody has really come up with a sensible suggestion as to who he would replace so that seems unlikely.
Pakistan hope to have Wahab Riaz back fit and that could be both significant and important. Mohammad Irfan could be replaced after an indifferent showing last time out. Mohammad Hafeez is unlikely to regain full fitness to feature.
Mohali is the venue for this match. Pakistan have had the advantage of a match on this ground but I don’t think that will worry Australia. A number of their players have been involved in Kings XI games in the IPL here and if anything this ground over all of them in India is probably best suited to an Australian style.
One thing about this ground are the huge boundaries and that leads me to think we might not see many sixes in this match. Australia have only hit 10 sixes in the tournament so far on much smaller grounds than this in Dharamsala and Bangalore and you wouldn’t think this Pakistan attack is going to get carted for many either.
On the flip side we saw in the last match how Pakistan can struggle to clear the ropes the longer the match goes on when their boundaries dried up completely late on against New Zealand let alone their sixes so all things being equal on a ground of this size I would be surprised if we see a dozen sixes here.
I’m also going to chance Shahid Afridi to be the top Pakistan batsman in this match. We’ve already seen him move himself up the order a couple of times and with Pakistan needing to win this by as many as they can it makes absolutely no sense to save him until deeper in the order.
I’d be very surprised if Afridi doesn’t bat in the top four in this match even if it is only to propel what is already a good score. He doesn’t always come off but I think it is pretty well known this could be his last international match should Pakistan not qualify and he’ll want to go out with a bang. At 12/1 it is worth paying to see how well Boom Boom goes in a possible swansong.
WON – Back Under 12 sixes for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
Back it here:
Back S.Afridi Top Pakistan Batsman for a 1/10 stake at 13.00 with Ladbrokes
Back him here:
