AUS vs PAK 2024/25, AUS vs PAK first T20I match preview


Big picture: who cares wins

Australia have been criticized in some quarters for allegedly “not caring” about the ODI format following their shock 2-1 loss to Pakistan. They are fielding a similarly depleted T20I squad with three first-choice T20I bowlers, permanent T20 captain Mitchell Marsh and their best T20 opener Travis Head unavailable. It gives Pakistan a chance to complete a rare white-ball series double in Australia, with the same group of fast bowlers minus Mohammad Hasnain to be unleashed on the same fragile batting unit in the three-match series that starts on Thursday. .

But the immediacy of results in T20I cricket is even less important to Australia than the ODI series. This series is part of the initial build-up towards the 2026 T20 World Cup and the 2028 Olympics after their experienced group was eliminated from the 2024 T20 World Cup in the Super Eight phase.

The winds of change have already blown during the five T20Is they played in the UK against Scotland and England. Josh Inglis is now the permanent wicketkeeper and will be the stand-in captain for this series, as he was in the final ODI in Perth. He is also a key mainstay in the top four and looks set to bat at No.3 after making an impressive century in Scotland in that position.
Matthew Short and Jake Fraser-McGurk open together in T20Is for the first time after alternating as Head’s partners in the UK. Fraser-McGurk batted at number 3 in his last T20I in England and made a half-century. He will be much more comfortable in the shorter form than in the ODIs, but his method against the new moving, bouncing ball will be tested again by Pakistan’s quicks as he competes with Short to be Head’s permanent partner in the T20I cricket.
For Pakistan, it will be their first T20I since failing to reach the Super Eight in the T20 World Cup in June. RizBar’s style of cricket received intense criticism in the wake of that World Cup in which Babar Azam lost the white-ball captaincy to Mohammad Rizwan. Any changes to his style of cricket and long-term planning for 2026 and 2028 have been shelved following the resignation of Gary Kirsten with Jason Gillespie in temporary charge. Pakistan did not need to show any intensified aggression with the bat in the ODI series as they won thanks to an excellent fast bowling performance. They will no doubt look to replicate that bowling success in the T20I series against a similar top-flight team in Australia.
How they structure the batting remains to be seen as Saim Ayub is not included in the squad after opening in his last T20I alongside Rizwan and scoring 82 and 42 in the two ODI wins in Adelaide and Perth. Pakistan also hardly used a fifth bowler in the ODI series but will probably need a fifth and sixth option in the T20Is.

forms guide

Australia: LWWWW (Last five matches completed, most recent first)
Pakistan: WWLLL

In the spotlight: Tim David and Babar Azam

Tim David is in an interesting phase of his career. At 28, the T20 hired gun has come out of his funk as a finisher of late in what is a brutally difficult role to be consistent with. He remains a key part of Australia’s middle order at shortest form, but the team hierarchy identified that he was underused in the World Cup and would like to allow him to face more balls to give him more time to prepare before the final delivery. He batted at No. 5 once in the five games of the recent tour of the United Kingdom. He may have a chance at that position during this series.

Babar Azam He remains the world’s No. 4 T20I batsman but his strike rate was a focus after the World Cup failure. Where he bats in this series remains to be seen, but he will be released. He looked in good touch in the ODI series, but was not under any scoring pressure in those games. It will be interesting to see if he can speed up the T20Is or if he sticks to his methods.

Team news: Injured quicks return to Australia

Australia will have at least three forced changes since their last T20I in September with Head, Connolly and Cameron Green unavailable. Glenn Maxwell returns after resting from the T20I leg of the UK tour. Ellis, Bartlett and Johnson have returned from injury to join Sean Abbott in the team. Three of those four will form the pace attack alongside Adam Zampa and some rotation is likely to occur over the three games.

Australia (probable): 1 Matt Short, 2 Jake Fraser-McGurk, 3 Josh Inglis (captain/week), 4 Glenn Maxwell, 5 Tim David, 6 Marcus Stoinis, 7 Aaron Hardie, 8 Nathan Ellis/Sean Abbott, 9 Xavier Bartlett, 10 Spencer Johnson, 11 Adam Zampa

pakistan team: Mohammad Rizwan (captain/wk), Abbas Afridi, Agha Salman, Arafat Minhas, Babar Azam, Haris Rauf, Haseebullah Khan (wk), Irfan Khan, Jahandad Khan, Naseem Shah, Omair Yousuf, Sahibzada Farhan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sufiyan Muqeem, Usman Khan.

Field and conditions

So far this season, there has only been one professional match at the Gabba and it was a WBBL match. It was one of the highest scoring games of the season and both sides are hoping for good white ball bowling with more pace and bounce for the fast bowlers. However, it will be hot and humid, so the ball will likely swing. A small threat of rain and thunderstorms is also forecast.

Quotes

“T20 cricket is obviously a totally different format, so I guess we will learn from the ODI series and the information we gather about the players and their batsmen. But it is a new format and from scratch. We are looking forward to it.”
Josh Inglis on recovering from ODI series loss



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