Australia vs Pakistan 2nd ODI: Preview and Predictions

The Australian summer began 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 will arrive at Adelaide with a lot of confidence in their ability to upset the Aussie apple cart. 

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

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

Last time out, the visitors were put into bat and debutant Saim Ayub was immediately removed by Mitchell Starc, who also got rid of the other opener, Abdullah Shafique. Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan then looked like they could rebuild the innings, with Azam looking like he was getting back to his old form, but Adam Zampa and Marnus Labuschange came in to remove both of them before some lower-order power-hitting from Naseem Shah and crucial runs from Shaheen Shah Afridi got them over 200.

Rizwan will want his batters step up in the second ODI, and both he and Azam will need to take up more responsibility and not give away wickets at the start.

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 Afridi and Shah also chipping in, Pakistan at one point looked like they could steal a win. Although they weren’t able to defend their 204-run target in the end, Rizwan’s boys will take a lot of heart from the way they bowled, although some sloppy fielding let them down once again. 

Australia, on the other hand, were clinical with the ball, with their star pacers Starc and Pat Cummins both among the wickets and being economical. Starc was deadly as usual with the new ball before Zampa chipped in with a couple scalps in the middle and Cummins wrapped up the innings.

Most of the Australian bowlers were among the wickets, and captain Cummins will hope for more of the same in Adelaide. 

With the bat, however, it was a rusty start to the summer for Australia. Barring Steve Smith and Josh Inglis, none of the other Australian batters looked comfortable in handling the pace of Rauf, Afridi, and Shah. It required some rear-guard action from Cummins and Starc 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, Cummins must have expected some rustiness from his batters, but he will hope for a better performance from the unit and count on the likes of Smith to convert their starts into big scores going forward. 

This will be the first game at the Adelaide Oval in over two years. The strip here generally brings a lot of runs, so expect more of them compared to the opening game. While the seamers will be in play, it will be the hosts who will be favourites again to lock in the series. 

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