- Jul 31, 2010
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Here we are the 2nd semi final between Australia and Pakistan to decide who will meet New Zealand in the final. The two sides have met in the semi final of a T20 World Cup before back in 2010. One of the greatest T20 innings ever played by Mike Hussey saw Australia home on that day to break Pakistan hearts. Will we see a similar story again tonight?
Pakistan head into the match on the back of an undefeated run through the group stage led by the pace bowling of Shaheen Shah Afridi and the batting of captain Babar Azam. They have now won 16 consecutive T20I matches in the UAE and go into the match with a settled XI having played the same team in all 5 of their group matches. It's hard to see them changing it now:
Pakistan (probable): 1 Babar Azam (c) 2 Mohammad Rizwan (wk) 3 Fakhar Zaman 4 Mohammad Hafeez 5 Shoaib Malik 6 Asif Ali 7 Shadab Khan 8 Imad Wasim 9 Hasan Ali 10 Haris Rauf 11 Shaheen Shah Afridi
Australia finished 2nd in Group 1 having finished above South Africa on NRR. A heavy loss to England put (further) question marks on their ability to win the tournament but despite that they are now in a position to give themselves a great chance of doing so. They will be enthused by the knowledge they have won all 4 knockout games against Pakistan in World Cups. Australia have also enjoyed a settled line-up having only played 1 match with a different XI. On that occasion Ashton Agar replaced Mitchell Marsh and there may be the temptation to bring Agar in again given 6 of Pakistan's top 7 are right-handers. However I'd expect the same XI as has played 4 of the 5 matches to be picked:
Australia (probable): 1 David Warner 2 Aaron Finch (c) 3 Mitchell Marsh 4 Steve Smith 5 Glenn Maxwell 6 Marcus Stoinis 7 Matthew Wade (wk) 8 Pat Cummins 9 Mitchell Starc 10 Adam Zampa 11 Josh Hazlewood
Pakistan head into the match on the back of an undefeated run through the group stage led by the pace bowling of Shaheen Shah Afridi and the batting of captain Babar Azam. They have now won 16 consecutive T20I matches in the UAE and go into the match with a settled XI having played the same team in all 5 of their group matches. It's hard to see them changing it now:
Pakistan (probable): 1 Babar Azam (c) 2 Mohammad Rizwan (wk) 3 Fakhar Zaman 4 Mohammad Hafeez 5 Shoaib Malik 6 Asif Ali 7 Shadab Khan 8 Imad Wasim 9 Hasan Ali 10 Haris Rauf 11 Shaheen Shah Afridi
Australia finished 2nd in Group 1 having finished above South Africa on NRR. A heavy loss to England put (further) question marks on their ability to win the tournament but despite that they are now in a position to give themselves a great chance of doing so. They will be enthused by the knowledge they have won all 4 knockout games against Pakistan in World Cups. Australia have also enjoyed a settled line-up having only played 1 match with a different XI. On that occasion Ashton Agar replaced Mitchell Marsh and there may be the temptation to bring Agar in again given 6 of Pakistan's top 7 are right-handers. However I'd expect the same XI as has played 4 of the 5 matches to be picked:
Australia (probable): 1 David Warner 2 Aaron Finch (c) 3 Mitchell Marsh 4 Steve Smith 5 Glenn Maxwell 6 Marcus Stoinis 7 Matthew Wade (wk) 8 Pat Cummins 9 Mitchell Starc 10 Adam Zampa 11 Josh Hazlewood
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