Pakistan and Australia remain in Sharjah for the second One Day International and heading into Sunday’s game the Aussies are 1-0 up with four to play.
The opening match of this 5 game series was also staged in Sharjah on Friday and Australia came out on top by 8 wickets.
Pakistan won the toss and opted to bat first on Friday and they posted a reasonably healthy total of 280/5. Haris Sohail top scored with an unbeaten 101 and Pakistan hit 7 maximums in their 50 overs.
Australia were trading at around 17/10 “in play” to chase the target down and although the game went into the 49th over, they were always in control. Skipper Finch continued his revival in form with 116 and Shaun Marsh was unbeaten on 91 when Australia got home for the loss of just 2 wickets with the team hitting 6 maximums in the process.
The was how the sides lined up at this venue on Friday
Pakistan: Imam-ul-Haq, Shan Masood, Haris Sohail, Shoaib Malik(c), Umar Akmal, Mohammad Rizwan(w), Faheem Ashraf, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Amir, Yasir Shah, Mohammad Abbas
Australia: Usman Khawaja, Aaron Finch(c), Peter Handscomb, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Shaun Marsh, Alex Carey(w), Nathan Coulter-Nile, Jhye Richardson, Nathan Lyon, Adam Zampa
Head to Head
Overall the teams have met 99 times in this format with Pakistan winning 32 to Australia’s 63 with 1 tie and 3 no results
The teams last met in Australia in January 2017 and the Aussies won that series 4-1.
Verdict:
Pat Cummins was rested for this first match of the series but his performances in the recent series win in India suggest he will be a key man should he make an expected return.
Watch out for a price for Cummins to be top Australian bowler when the markets become available.
Additional interest comes in the shape of Shan Masood to top score for Pakistan.
Suggested Bets: Top Away Bowler, Pat Cummins
Top Home Bat Shan Masood
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