The Aussies will play Pakistan in the second ODI of the five game series
at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Australia lead the series 1-0 after having
won the first game at Gabba in Brisbane rather easily despite being faced with
the target of more than 275.
Click for Live Score Card of Australia Vs Pakistan
Most of Pakistan's issues on the tour have been
due to the lack of batting display. However, the first ODI was different in the
sense that the tourists batted rather well to get to the 270+ score before their
bowlers let them down. Due credit must be given to Salman Butt and Shahid
Afridi, both of whom scored well to guide their team into the position of
strength. Butt has been in good form for the entire duration of the tour, but
it was refreshing to see Afridi get amongst the runs. What would also be pleasing
for the Pakistanis would be the comeback of Younis Khan, who took his time but
in the end got to a well compiled 40. It is difficult to see the Pakistanis
making any changes to their batting order in the second game, given that it was
the first time they have really batted like they should have. And had it been
for one of Mohammad Yousuf, Umar Akmal or Shoaib Malik who could have batted through
the rest of the innings, things may have been just different. The bowling
for Pakistan will heavily depend on the spinners to come good after the first
game had seen both, Shahid Afridi and Saeed Ajmal leak a lot of runs in
their quota of overs. The surprise of the first game was that Shoaib Malik
wasn't given too many overs to bowl and that may change in the second match. Australia
did not have a good start to their batting innings either, but the relief will
come in the form of the strong middle order which could see an absence of Michael
Clarke. Clarke was hit on his hit by Mohammad Aamer, and that was still hurting
him which could mean that the Aussies may opt to play Adam Voges. The other option
is to get in James Hopes as well, but the Australians will want to get in a frontline
batsman instead of a bowling all-rounder. The bowling should remain the
same, but one does get the feeling that it is not as strong as their opposition.
Probably Australia are trying things around before the World Cup!
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