Pakistan vs Australia, 1st ODI

After an intense 3 match test series, the focus now shifts towards the limited overs leg of the tour. Australia are without their Star players Warner, Cummins, Starc, Hazlewood, Maxwell whereas the hosts will be fielding a full strength side. This series is important for both teams considering their positions in the Super leage table. Pakistan are at 10 while Australia are placed at 7. Pakistan's position is mainly due to their 3-0 loss in England. In absence of many star players, Its a great opportunity for so many youngsters in the Australian squad especially Ben McDermott, Nathan Ellis and Cameroon Green. The hosts too would be looking forward to give the likes of Khusdil Shah, Saud Shakeel an opportunity in the 11. With the Pandemic and 2 back to back t20 world cups scheduled, ODIs have been highly neglected. Australia have played only 3 Odis since the start of 2021 whereas Pakistan have played just 6.

Team News

Pakistan

Shadab Khan has still not recovered from his injury and will probably miss the 1st 2 ODIs.

Australia

Steve Smith has pulled out of the limited overs leg to give his right elbow a rest. Mitchell Marsh has sustained a hip flexor injury and is probably out of the series. Josh Inglis has tested positive for covid and will isolate for 5 days. Matt Renshaw is flying in to join the squad. Ashton Agar has tested possitive for Covid and is out of the series.

Probable XI

Pakistan

Imam-Ul-Haq, Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Asif Ali, Saud Shakeel/Asif Afridi, Iftikhar Ahmed, Hasan Ali, Haris Rauf, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Usman Qadir

Australia

Aaron Finch (c), Ben McDermott, Marnus Labuschagne, Marcus Stoinis, Cameron Green, Alex Carey (wk), Sean Abbott, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa, Jason Behrendorff, Mitchell Swepson.

Venue

Gadaffi Stadium Lahore

Total matches: 63
Matches won batting first: 32
Matches won bowling first: 29
Average 1st Innings total: 249
Average 2nd Innings total: 213
Highest total: 375/3 for PAK vs Zim in 2015.

Head to Head

Overall: Aus leads by 68-32
In Pakistan: Aus leads by 6-4
At Gadaffi: Aus leads by 3-2
Last 5 matches:
AUS - W L W L W
PAK - L W L L L

Match Ups

Rizwan vs Zampa: 46/1 (85 SR)
Babar vs Zampa: 22/0 (84 SR)
Finch vs Shaheen: 22/0 (100 SR)
Finch vs Hasan: 11/0 (84 SR)
Carey vs Hasan: 14/0 (127 SR)

Form Update
(Last 5 innings)

Key Players & Stats

Pakistan

Babar Azam: The Pakistan skipper won the ICC ODI player of the year award. He averages 56 in ODIS and became the quickest to 14 ODI centuries reaching the milestone in 81 innings. He needs 15 runs to become fastest to 4000 ODI runs.

Fakhar Zaman: The Southpaw is having a great last 12 months in white ball format. 2 centuries in SA, a fine WT20 including a memorable in the semi finals and highest scorer in PSL.

Imam Ul Haq: He became the 5th fastest batsman to reach the milestone of 2000 runs.

Shaheen Afridi: The ICC cricketer of the year award winner has 53 wickets in the format in just 27 innings, thats almost 2 wickets every game. Only Hasan Ali had more wkts after 27 innings among the Pakistan bowlers.

Australia

Aaron Finch: He is the most experienced batter in the line up with over 5000 runs and 17 centuries. Finch is the 5th fastest batter to score 17 100s. Pakistan Finch's favoirite opponents. He has scored 567 runs against them with 3 100s and 68 average. Finch scored 2 100s against them in the last ODI series before 2019 WC and won the series 5-0.

Ben McDermott: He had a record breaking BBL season with 577 runs – the 4th highest single season tally in BBL history - at 48.08 average and a strike rate of 153.86, despite missing the first two games of the season.

Adam Zampa: The most experienced bowler in the bowling department and one of the world's leading leg spinners. Zampa has taken 37 wkts in his last 20 innings at an eco of 5.39.

Marcus Stoinis: The all rounder has over 1000 runs in the format at a SR of 92 and has taken 33 wkts. With Green and Stoinis, Australia's quota of 5th bowler is well covered.

Fantasy XI

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