Pakistan vs Australia: Injuries in Australian camp prior to ODI series; experiment for 2023 World Cup
After an intriguing Test series sealed by Australia against the hosts Pakistan in Lahore, it's time for visitors to play a three-match One Day International series with the host. The limited-overs series will commence from 29th March 2022 and will be played at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore.
Image credit: pia.images.co.uk Welcome after 24 years to Aussie players
ODI after a long time for Australia with prominent names missing.
Pakistan will be playing the series with their full strength squad, whereas Australia will look to experiment with their squad for the upcoming 2023 World Cup. Aaron Finch will be back to leading the pack after Pat Cummins, who led the team in a commendable way in red-ball format. Many key players would be missing out from the Australian squad. Few players will be flying to India to play in the ongoing Indian Premier League, and a few have injured themselves in the training session. Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, David Warner and Glenn Maxwell are all being rested from the series. Mitchell Marsh might also not be available for the series due to injury. He was picked by Delhi Capitals in auctions for INR 6.5 crores and might have to miss the Indian Premier League
"I don't think he'll be available for this series based on his feeling yesterday. He sustained that yesterday in a fielding drill. It was a high-intensity, lateral movement drill. He bent down to pick it up one-handed and went to throw and felt a twinge in his hip flexor," Finch said of Marsh.
Steven Smith has also been ruled out with an elbow injury. Cameron Green and Mitchell Swepson will probably replace Mitchell Marsh and Steven Smith, respectively.
Australia will be playing an ODI series after a long time. They played just three between December 2020 to July 2021 and now directly in March 2022. With such notable T20 players missing out from the series, it looks like a pure experiment for Australia and captain Aaron Finch to find a suitable playing XI.
Home advantage for Pakistan playing with full strength?
On the other hand, Pakistan has a strong, balanced and complete squad available for the series. They have a power-packed batting line-up with Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan and Fakhar Zaman at the top. Their pace attack is not unknown to anyone now. Their bowling attack is destructive enough to cause trouble and dismantle the opposition's batting. Pakistan have included the uncapped duo of Asif Afridi and Mohammad Haris in the squad for the limited-overs series. Asif had performed well in the PSL 2022, picking 8 wickets in 5 matches, and Haris batted with a strike rate of 186.5 and smashed 166 runs in 5 games.
Pakistan's ODI squad: Babar Azam (captain), Shadab Khan, Abdullah Shafique, Asif Afridi, Asif Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imam-Ul-Haq, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Haris, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Saud Shakeel, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shahnawaz Dahani, Usman Qadir
Australia's ODI squad: Aaron Finch (capt), Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Jason Behrendorff, Alex Carey (wk), Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (wk), Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Marsh, Ben McDermott, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Swepson, Adam Zampa
Impact of result on World Cup Super League Cycle
The super league cycle started on 30th July 2020 and will continue until May 2023. There are 13 teams, and each play 24 matches to be ranked by their results. The fixtures are agreed upon by consensus between the teams. The top ranked teams directly qualify for the next World Cup while the remaining teams advance to the World Cup Qualifier. Bangladesh have acquired the top three places, England and India have played 18, 15 and 12 matches of which they have won 12, 9 and 8 matches respectively.
Australia currently sits at seventh place in the table despite having won six of nine matches. They have eight ODIs scheduled in the upcoming four months, three with Pakistan and five against Sri Lanka. On the other hand, Pakistan are placed tenth in the points table as they have won just 4 out of 9 matches played. So they will be fighting back with utmost strength in the squad to find a good place at the table.
Like the recently concluded Test series between the two, the ODI series looks promising enough to showcase a competitive cricket between both sides. Pakistan fans will love these three ODI matches as excitement is at an all-time high in the country.