Pakistan claimed the win to level the three match ODI series on Thursday night. The series remains in Lahore for the third and final game on Saturday night from 9.00pm.
Check out our preview and betting tips for the deciding clash from Andy Rosos below and remember to head to our Cricket Tips page for regular content including a preview and betting tips for the Women’s World Cup Final on Sunday.
Pakistan vs Australia 3rd ODI Betting Tips
Gaddafi Stadium, Saturday 2nd April, 9.00pm (AEDT)
Game 2 Review
Batting first, the Australians put up a very respectable total of 8/348on the back of a brilliant century from Ben McDermott. McDermott was unlucky not to ton up in both games so far after being runout well on his way to a century in the first game. Travis Head was once again impressive, smashing 89 off just 70 balls to set up the Aussie innings.
Marcus Stoinis (49) and Marnus Labuschagne (59) were also both impressive, but disappointing outings from Alex Carey and Cameron Green later in the innings turned what should have been a total of close to 400 into a chase-able one for Pakistan.
Aaron Finch’s form struggles continued as he was dismissed for a golden duck. He’s now under massive pressure to perform or he may be in danger of losing his place in the team for the upcoming T20 World Cup.
The pick of the bowlers for Pakistan was paceman Shaheen Shah Afridi, who returned to the side from injury and picked up 4/63 off his 10 overs.
In return, Imam-ul-Haq and Fakhar Zaman got the home side off to a brilliant start, piling on 118 for the first wicket. Imam continued to mount his case as player of the tour as he smashed his 2nd hundred in as many games to go along with another two he scored in the Test matches.
Imam’s innings wasn’t enough to earn him man of the match honours though. Instead that went to the Pakistani captain and the No.1 batsman in the world right now, Babar Azam. Babar became the fastest player to score 15 ODI centuries as he belted 114 off just 83 balls. He was dismissed late in the innings with a bit of work still to do, but Mohammad Rizwan and Khushdil Shah steered the shift home admirably, combining for 50 valuable runs as the home side chased down the total with six balls to spare.
Predicted XIs
Australia: Travis Head, Aaron Finch, Ben McDermott, Marnus Labuschagne, Marcus Stoinis, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Sean Abbott, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa, Mitchell Swepson
Pakistan: Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Khushdil Shah, Iftikhar Ahmed, Saud Shakeel, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Wasim, Zahid Mahmood, Haris Rauf
Match Prediction
Hard to look past the Pakistanis with how good their batting line-up is looking at the moment. The return to form for Fakhar Zaman has given them an explosive third prong to combine with Imam and Babar. You just feel like one or more of those three players is going to score big runs on any given night, especially against this Aussie bowling attack that is looking a little pedestrian at the moment without their big guns.
Pakistan to win
COMING SOON
