Pakistan clash with Australia in the T20 World Cup semi finals in Dubai on Thursday, Pakistan still boast a 100% record and they start as the bookmakers favourites.
Note all prices are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
Outright Betting Update.
Heading into the semi finals and the latest outright betting has England as 17/10 favourites to win the tournament. Pakistan are next best at 5/2 with Australia at 33/10 and New Zealand can be backed at around 4/1. Note that the market will be suspended before the first semi final on Wednesday's gets under way.
Pakistan
Pakistan are the only side in the tournament with a 100% record. They made a scintillating start, upsetting arch rivals and pre-tournament favourites India in their opening match at this venue by all of 10 wickets.
Pakistan never looked back after that and went on to beat New Zealand and Afghanistan (both by 5 wickets), Namibia (45 runs) and Scotland (72 runs).
Babar Azam tops the run scoring charts after the Super 12's with 264 runs in 5 knocks. Rizwan is also in the top 5 with 214. Haris Rauf has taken 8 wickets.
This was how Pakistan lined up last time out
Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Babar Azam (c), Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Asif Ali, Shadab Khan, Imad Wasim, Hasan Ali, Haris Rauf, Shaheen Afridi
Australia
Australia finished as runners up to England in their Super 12 group with a record of 4 wins and 1 defeat. They edged out the Proteas after boosting their net rate in their final 2 matches which saw them thrash Bangladesh and West Indies (both by 8 wickets).
Earlier results saw Australia beat South Africa (5 wickets) and Sri Lanka (7 wickets) before they suffered a 8 wicket defeat to England.
David Warner is the leading Australian run scorer in the tournament with 187 in 5 innings. Adam Zampa has taken 11 wickets, 5 of which came in 1 match against Bangladesh at this venue.
This is how they lined up last time out
David Warner, Aaron Finch (c), Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Steven Smith, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade (wk), Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood
Head to Head
Overall the teams have met 23 times with Pakistan winning 12 to Australia's 9 with 1 tie and 1 no result
The teams last met in Australia in November 2019, the first contest in a 3 match series was washed out and Australia won the next 2 matches.
The Betting
Pakistan are currently trading at around 17/20 to win the game and Australia can be backed at around even money
Babar Azam is 5/4 favourite to top score for Pakistan and Warner is 19/10 to do likewise for Australia
Pakistan are 14/10 to hit the most sixes with Australia 8/10 and a tie is 5/1
Note all prices are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
The Verdict
Pakistan beat India and Afghanistan on this ground in the Super 12's whilst Australia played 3 of their group matches here, wins over Sri Lanka and Bangladesh and the defeat to England. Babar Azam has knocks of 68 and 51 in the 2 matches he has played here, much depends on him but this Aussie bowling unit is useful and I'm open minded about the outcome..
In the belief Pakistan won't take any chances against Zampa then Josh Hazlewood is my headline pick as top Australian bowler.
Shaheen Afridi's was excellent against India with 3/31 and a Man of the Match award and he also returned figures of 1/22 against Afghanistan at this ground. That gives him a squeak in the Man of the Match market for a speculative play.
Bets: Man of the Match Shaheen Afridi at 12/1
Top Australian Bowler Josh Hazlewood at 9/4
Join Betway today and get a R25 Sign Up Bet
Note all prices are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
Subscribe to our free weekly betting mailer which will include our best and value bets below.
