Pakistan and Australia continue their preparations for this year’s World Cup with a five match ODI series in the UAE and the first contest takes place in Sharjah on Friday.
Pakistan have opted to rest a number of regulars for this series, either through managing their workload or niggling injuries. Meanwhile Australia decided not to include Steve Smith and David Warner who’s bans come to an end during the series.
Let’s take a look at the squads.
Pakistan Squad: Shoaib Malik (c), Abid Ali, Faheem Ashraf, Haris Sohail, Imad Wasim, Imam-ul-Haq, Junaid Khan, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Saad Ali, Shan Masood, Umar Akmal, Usman Shinwari, Yasir Shah
Australia Squad: Aaron Finch (c), Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh, Peter Handscomb, Glenn Maxwell, Ashton Turner, Marcus Stoinis, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, Jason Behrendorff, Nathan Lyon, Adam Zampa
Current Form
Pakistan were beaten 3-2 in a ding dong series in South Africa in January. They won the first and fourth contests but went down by 7 wickets in the decider.
Australia were huge underdogs for their 5 match series in India earlier this month. They lost the first 2 matches by some distance but stormed back to win the next 3 to clinch the series.
Head to Head
Overall the teams have met 98 times in this format with Pakistan winning 32 to Australia’s 62 with 1 tie and 3 no results
The teams last met in Australia in January 2017 and the Aussies won that series 4-1.
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Pakistan 21/20
Australia 8/10
Note: Prices correct at the time of posting but are subject to change
Verdict:
Australia’s ODI game had been in the doldrums prior to that superb comeback in India this month. They have an unchanged squad whilst Pakistan are not at full strength and although this will still be a tough test in the conditions, the vote goes to the visitors to make a winning start to the series.
Suggested Bet: Australia to win at 8/10 BET HERE
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