Lahore- Australia will field one of the most depleted white-ball sides in a long time when it takes on hosts Pakistan in the opening game of the historic three-match ODI series at the Gaddafi Stadium here on Tuesday.
Australia’s first white-ball match on Pakistan soil since 1998 is shorn of some of the biggest names, including Test captain Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and top-order batters Steve Smith and David Warner.
While all the matches will be played at the Gaddafi Stadium — the venue where Australia won the third and final Test recently to take the series 1-0 — it remains to be seen how the Aaron Finch-led limited-overs side shapes up with both bat and ball given their inexperience.
The side will also be missing Jhye Richardson, who was not considered for the entire tour keeping his long-term utility in mind, while Kane Richardson suffered a hamstring injury at training in Melbourne a day before the team’s departure. Limited-overs specialist Glenn Maxwell too is missing after he got married recently.
To add to their woes, Mitchell Marsh — with 63 ODIs to his name and Australia’s second-most experienced player on the tour behind skipper Finch (132 ODIs) — has been ruled out of the first ODI and possibly the entire series due to a hip flexor injury sustained at training on Sunday.
While Travis Head is back in the mix, it remains to be seen how he shapes up, given that he hasn’t played ODI cricket since 2018. Among others, Cameron Green has played just one, Sean Abbott two, while Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Josh Inglis and Mitchell Swepson would all make their ODI debut if selected, according to cricket.com.au.
Ashton Agar could return to the white-ball line-up after being sidelined during the ICC T20 World Cup in the UAE and would likely partner Adam Zampa, while left-arm pacer Jason Behrendorff will take the new ball, putting Shaun Abbott, Nathan Ellis and Ben Dwarshuis in a tie for the remaining seamer spots.
Australia have not lost an ODI in Pakistan since 1994, but with this being the country’s first tour of Pakistan since 1998, a lot of changes have come about in those 24 years. Another disadvantage could be the fact that Australia have played just three ODIs in the past 15 months, a 2-1 series win against the West Indies last July.
There are several personal landmarks to be made. Spinner Adam Zampa is three wickets away from becoming the 18th Australian bowler to take 100 ODI wickets. If skipper Finch scores a ton, he will equal opener David Warner and Mark Waugh with 18 ODI centuries for Australia, the second most in Aussie history.
On the Pakistani side, their skipper Babar Azam is 15 runs shy of becoming the 15th Pakistani batter to reach 4000 runs in ODIs.
–IANS