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.
Click for Live Score Card of Australia vs PakistanGiven 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!
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