A close rivalry moves from the desert heat in Dubai to the tropical warmth of the R. Premadasa Stadium. Less than a month back, Australia and Pakistan were locked in a three-match Twenty20 series in the Middle East and Mohammad Hafeez’s men won at 2-1.
The pertinent point though is that Australia won the last game with Shane Watson and David Warner scattering the Pakistan attack during a 111-run partnership.
George Bailey’s men have not looked back after that and are in the midst of a searing run in the ICC World Twenty20.
Now, the advantage rests clearly with Australia ahead of Tuesday’s Super Eights Group II match against Pakistan.
Shane Watson has dominated the contribution-percentage within the Aussie ranks, accounting for 45.61 of the runs and 37.03 of the wickets. The all-rounder remains a key factor and when asked about ways to counter him, Dav Whatmore said in jest: “Poison his food?” The Pakistan coach then added: “He is very good, he is in good nick. But he is a human being; he can also play a bad shot and get out.”
Australia, thanks to four points and an impressive net run-rate (+1.712) is almost assured of a semifinal berth but Pakistan has to win the contest to remain in contention. Pakistan’s batting inexplicably looked fragile against South Africa and India but in Saeed Ajmal, Hafeez has a spinner, who did well at Dubai and Bailey admitted: “I don’t know if you can really decode him. It’s a real challenge.”
The Australian captain, however, was clear that he was looking ahead and said: “I am not too fussed about settling scores what we are keen to do is continue playing good cricket.”
If there is a chink in the Australian outfit, it is the sheer lack of game-time for a majority of its batsmen as the top-three of Watson, David Warner and Michael Hussey, dominated the exchanges against other teams.
Against South Africa, left-arm spinner Xavier Doherty made a mark and with the pitch showing a distinct bias towards turn, tweakers from both the teams, will have a big role to play. Most importantly, Australia’s cushion of fast, big runs in the earlier matches, would mean that it starts with one foot in the semifinal even before the first ball is bowled on Tuesday.
The teams(from):
Australia: G. Bailey (captain), S. Watson, D. Warner, D. Christian, Michael Hussey, C. White, M. Wade, P. Cummins, M. Starc, B. Hilfenhaus, C. McKay, B. Hogg, X. Doherty, G. Maxwell and David Hussey.
Pakistan: Md. Hafeez (captain), N. Jamshed, I. Nazir, Kamran Akmal, U.Akmal, Yasir Arafat, S. Malik, A. Razzak, U. Gul, M. Sami, R. Hasan, S. Ajmal, S. Afridi, S. Tanvir and A. Shafiq.
Umpires: Richard Kettleborough and Ian Gould;
Third umpire: Kumar Dharmasena.
