The first Test match between Australia and Pakistan will be played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground from the 26th of this month. And after the Aussies won a rather close series against West Indies, it remains to be seen how the hosts perform against a side which has a natural tendency of blowing hot on some days and cold on the others.

Pakistan will be reasonably pleased with their performance in New Zealand, in a series that they tied 1-1. Had it not rained in the last game, the score-line would have probably read 1-2 against them, but given that most of the guys were young and inexperienced in conditions that were totally aliens they would have been very happy with the result.

Given the manner in which Salman Butt batted in the tour game, it looks very evident that he will be one of the openers for Pakistan. The other opener could be very well between Fawad Alam, Khurram Manzoor and Imran Farhat. Manzoor wasn't picked up for the tour game, something that speaks about his minimal chances of making it through, and so one of Alam and Farhat should be a part of the side.

The other doubt that could be a part of the side, would be for one of the middle-order, with both Misbah-ul-Haq and Shoaib Malik's places in jeopardy. The bowling, on the other hand will be taken care of by Mohammad Aamer, Mohammad Asif and Umar Gul with one of the two, Danish Kaneria or Saeed Ajmal to make it through. Kaneria had a good game against New Zealand after he was picked ahead of Ajmal, but with Ajmal's four wicket-haul against Tasmania, things could get interesting for the pair.

Talking of Australia, their batting was more or less set, except that Ricky Ponting is battling his elbow bruise and will probably miss out. That will mean that Phil Hughes will make it back to the side, and the interesting question would be his batting position. He is an opener, whereas Shane Watson is a middle order batsman; however, he has been out of the playing eleven, whereas Watson has been opening the innings for some time. Whether the Aussie selectors will want to swap the positions for one test match will remain to be seen.

The bowling will lie in the hands of Mitchell Johnson and Doug Bollinger, with Ben Hilfenhaus not having recovered fully. However, Peter Siddle should make it back to the playing eleven in place of Clint McKay. The game should prove to be much more exciting than even the Aussie-WI series!

Tag :- Australia   Danish Kaneria   Mitchell Johnson   Pakistan   Ricky Ponting   Salman Butt