Australia vs Pakistan 2nd ODI: Preview and Predictions

Australia vs Pakistan 2nd ODI: Preview and Predictions

The Australian summer kicked off with a thrilling opening game to kick off the ODI series between Australia and Pakistan and while the hosts picked up a narrow win, Pakistan looked dangerous and it will be all to play for in Adelaide. 

Ahead of the second ODI, here’s our match preview and predictions.

Australia vs Pakistan 2nd ODI | Pakistan tour of Australia 2024 | 09:00 IST, November 8

The visitors, Pakistan, were put into bat and debutant Saim Ayub was immediately removed by Starc and the left-arm seamer got rid of both openers quickly. Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan looked like they were rebuilding the innings with Azam looking like he was getting back to his old form buy Zampa and the part timer Marnus Labuschange came in to remove both and Pakistan looked like they will be bundled out under 150 before some power hitting from Naseem Shah and crucial runs from Shaheen Shah Afridi got them over 200. Rizwan will hope that his batters step up in the second ODI with both himself and Azam needing to take up more responsibility and not give away important starts. With a weak lower order, Azam and Rizwan will have more responsibility on themselves.

With the ball, although the bowlers didn’t have a lot to defend, Haris Rauf cracked open the match with his sheer pace, and with Shaheen Afridi and Naseem Shah also chipping in, Pakistan at one point looked like they could steal a win. Although they weren’t able to defend 204, Rizwan’s boys will take a lot of heart from the way they bowled although some sloppy fielding let them down, once again. 

This will be the first game at the Adelaide Oval in over two years, and the strip generally brings a lot of runs so expect a lot of runs, unlike the opening game and the while the seamers will be in play, it will be the hosts who will be favourites again and expect Australia to lock in the series. 

Australia were clinical with the ball with their star pacers, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, both were amongst the wickets and economical, making sure not only did Pakistan keep losing wickets but couldn’t rotate the strike either. Starc was deadly as usual with the new ball before Adam Zampa chipped in with a couple in the middle before Cummins wrapped up the innings. Most of the Australian bowlers were amongst the wickets and captain Cummins will hope for more of the same in Adelaide. 

With the bat though, it was a rusty start to the summer for Australia. Barring Steve Smith and Josh Inglis, none of the other Australian batters looked comfortable and were no match for the pace of Haris Rauf, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah. It required some rear-guard action from Cummins along with Starc, this time teaming up with the bat, to bail out Australia in a paltry chase of 204 as the hosts got home with two wickets to spare. Given it was the first game of the series, some of the rustiness is something Cummins expected but he will hope for a better batting performance from the unit and count on the likes of Steve Smith to convert their starts into a big score. 

Fantasy XI: Abdullah Shafique, Babar Azam, Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschange, Mohammad Rizwan, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah

Venue: Adelaide

Winners Prediction: Australia