 Pakistan will play Australia in the first Test match of the two Test match series
from Tuesday. The two sides had earlier met in a two T20I series, and the Pakistanis
had won both the games. Australia will look to avenge that defeat, by continuing
their run against Pakistan, whom they had beaten in a Test series 3-0 in
Australia.
Pakistan's biggest strength is their bowling and that is where they will need
to score over Australia. After all, they have not had the best of the
batting sides, and with Shahid Afridi also in the middle order, it is almost
like he is a sitting duck of a wicket. The rest of the batting side will have
the likes of Salman Butt, Shoaib Malik and Umar Akmal, and it will require them
to get some runs for them to be able to make the best of the situation.
Click for Live Score Card of Pakistan Vs Australia
Getting back to the Pakistani bowling, Mohammad Aamer is in the form of his
life, but he will understand that bowling in T20Is and bowling in a five day
long test match are two different things altogether and hence it could get difficult.
Fortunately for the side, Shahid Afridi can bowl as well, so they may
want to go ahead with only one spinner in Saeed Ajmal and not play Danish Kaneria.
Umar Gul and Mohammad Asif should form the pace attack at the other
end, which means that the bowling is rather strong and if the conditions are
right for the bowlers, things could get interesting.
From Australia's perspective, the good news is that almost everyone was in
good batting form in the tour game, except, Michael Clarke. But the Clarke story
about his lack of runs has been played over and over again, and it is time,
one gave him time! From amongst the others, Tim Paine's debut Test at Lord's
will be worth a watch, whereas the rest of the batting should almost remain
the same.
Shane Watson will open the batting with Simon Katich, and this will
be followed by Ponting, Hussey, Clarke, North and Paine in the batting order.
For the bowling, Steve Smith should make his debut whereas the pace bowling
attack should consist of the likes of Mitchell Johnson, Doug Bollinger and the
injury-free Ben Hilfenhaus. Ryan Harris has returned back due to injury and
that is a big blow to the Australian chances.
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