Rain played spoilsport in the opening T20I at Brisbane, which saw a curtailed game take place and it was Australia hammering a hapless Pakistan in a seven-over encounter.
Ahead of the second T20I game, here’s our match preview and prediction.
Australia vs Pakistan 2nd T20I | Pakistan tour of Australia 2024 | 13:30 IST, November 16
While it was a rain-hit game in the opening T20I, which saw only 7 overs of action, although Pakistan wouldn’t look too much into it, they know that their batting lineup in the current T20I system just doesn’t fit the current game. The visitors’ batting lineup doesn’t have an instant acceleration game with the likes of Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan and Salman Agha all needing time and being more of anchors than aggressors. The first T20I had Pakistan needing 94 from 7 overs and they were 16/5 inside three overs as the Pakistani batters looked out of place. Abbas Afridi and Hassebullah Khan helped Pakistan avoid getting bowled out in a seven-over encounter but Rizwan’s squad knows they have to bring different aspects to the batting approach.
The hosts, on the other hand, have an exciting batting unit with an explosive opening pair of Matt Short and Jake Fraser-McGurk and have more firepower in the likes of Josh Inglis, Tim David, Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis to follow. The bowling also looked sharp as they had Pakistan reeling early on with Xavier Bartlett, Nathan Ellis and Adam Zampa causing all sorts of trouble for the Pakistani batters.
The SCG will be a belter, with the bowlers having good assistance especially the seamers and count on Australia to seal the three-match series in Sydney itself.
Fantasy XI: Babar Azam, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Josh Inglis, Mohammad Rizwan, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Tim David, Adam Zampa, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah
Venue: Sydney
Winners Prediction: Australia
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