With the Champions Trophy fast approaching, Australia will take on Pakistan in the opening game of the ODI series at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Monday, November 4, 2024.

Match Preview:

In Australia, the Border-Gavaskar trophy is the talk of the town and the media is already speculating about the playing XI of the opening fixture when the Indian side arrives. But before the much-awaited 5-match series kicks off, the home side have another series to deal with: a white-ball series against the mercurial Pakistan team.

Just because the media hype isn’t the same doesn’t mean these ODI fixtures are meaningless. The green shirts haven’t played a 50-over game since the end of their disastrous World Cup campaign in India last year. With Babar Azam quitting to accepting the white-ball captaincy, and then stepping down again in this time period, a lot has changed since Pakistan’s 50-over World Cup campaign finished with a defeat against England.

Having stepped down from the role of white ball-captaincy (again), Babar, who was recently dropped from the Test side, will be eager to prove his critics wrong and let his bat do the talking again. On the bowling front, Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf – who collectively conceded more than 1000 runs at the ODI World Cup – along with Naseem Shah have been named in the playing XI and would love to regain some form before the Champions Trophy at home.

For the home side, the big news is that skipper Pat Cummins will lead the team – this will be the pacer’s first ODI fixture since lifting the World Cup trophy at Ahmedabad last year. With Travis Head and Mitchell Marsh both on paternity leave, there will be a new opening pair for the Aussies: Jake Fraser-McGurk and Matt Short.

Providing stability and calmness in the middle order will be the ever-present duo of Steven Smith, and Marnus Labuschagne. With Glenn Maxwell’s match-winning and belligerent double hundred against Afghanistan in that World Cup encounter still fresh in everyone’s memories, one can’t expect anything different from the destructive all-rounder. Add the guile and control of Adam Zampa, and you have the perfect recipe for another series win at home.

But again, don’t forget that Pakistan proved everyone wrong just a couple of weeks ago with a stunning Test series win against England. Predicting a winner at this stage is still too early.

Probable Playing XIs

Pat Cummins is back to lead the side having missed the ODI series in the UK and will be accompanied by Mitchell Starc, Sean Abbot, and Aaron Hardie in the fast-bowling department.

Australia: 1 Matt Short, 2 Jake Fraser-McGurk, 3 Steven Smith, 4 Josh Inglis, 5 Marnus Labuschagne, 6 Glenn Maxwell, 7 Aaron Hardie, 8 Sean Abbott, 9 Pat Cummins, 10 Mitchell Starc, 11 Adam Zampa

Rather surprisingly, the tourists have named only 4 front-line bowlers in the playing XI, trusting the part-spin of Salman Ali Agha, and Saim Ayub. The 21-year-old Irfan Khan is all set to receive his ODI cap.

Pakistan: 1 Saim Ayub, 2 Abdullah Shafique, 3 Babar Azam, 4 Mohammad Rizwan, 5 Kamran Ghulam, 6 Salman Ali Agha, 7 Irfan Khan, 8 Shaheen Shah Afridi, 9 Naseem Shah, 10 Haris Rauf, 11 Mohammad Hasnain

Pitch and Weather Report:

It’s the beginning of the summer season in Australia, and while overcast conditions are predicted in Melbourne, the game is unlikely to be affected.

Head-to-Head Record:

Pakistan and Australia have played each other in 108 ODI matches, with Australia winning 70 of these games. At the MCG, the home side’s record against the green shirts stands at 10 to 4.

Prediction:

Despite Pakistan’s miraculous come-from-behind victory against England in the recent Test series, this Australian ODI side is likely to prove too strong for the visitors who are short of confidence and still unable to find the right combination in this format – Shaheen Afridi will bat at number 8 while there are only four front-line bowlers in Pakistan’s playing XI. As England found out in September, try taking on the World Champions in this format at your own peril.