Pakistan vs Australia, 2nd ODI

Australia defeated Pakistan by 88 runs in the first ODI of their three-match series at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, on Tuesday. A Travis Head century, and a bowling masterclass by Abbott and Adam Zampa sealed the deal in the favour of the hosts. Pakistan suffered a blow as their star bowler Shaheen Afridi was decalred unfit. Pak were in the chase until Babar and Imam were at the crease. Once Babar fell to Swepson, Pak could not recover and were all out on 225 in the 46th over. This series is important for both teams considering their positions in the Super leage table. Pakistan are at 11 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 Khushdil Shah, Saud Shakeel an opportunity in all the 3 odis. With the Pandemic and 2 back to back t20 world cups scheduled, ODIs have been highly neglected. Australia have played only 4 Odis since the start of 2021 whereas Pakistan have played just 7.

Team News:

Pakistan

Shadab Khan has still not recovered from his injury and will probably miss the 1st 2 ODIs. Shaheen Afridi may play in the 2nd ODI.

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 and Ashton Agar have tested positive for covid and will isolate for 5 days. Matt Renshaw is flying in to join the squad.

Probable XI

Pakistan

Imam-Ul-Haq, Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Haris Rauf, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Zahid Mahmood

Australia

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

Venue

Gadaffi Stadium Lahore.

Total matches: 64
Matches won batting first: 33
Matches won bowling first: 29
Average 1st Innings total: 250
Average 2nd Innings total: 213
Highest total: 375/3 for PAK vs Zim in 2015.

Head to Head

Overall: Aus leads by 69-32
In Pakistan: Aus leads by 7-4
At Gadaffi: Aus leads by 4-2
Last 5 matches:
AUS - L W L W W
PAK - LW L L L L

Match Ups

Rizwan vs Zampa: 50/2 (79 SR)
Babar vs Zampa: 36/0 (78 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 before this series)

This series:
Fakhar - 18
Finch - 23
Babar - 57
Rizwan - 10
Carey - 4
Labuschagne - 25
Imam - 103
Stoinis - 26

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 also became the fastest to 4000 ODI runs in just 82 innings

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 and reached his 7th ODI 100 in the 1st ODi

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 65 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 41 wkts in his last 21 innings at an eco of 5.3.

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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