Pakistan vs Australia, 4th ODI, Preview: Kangaroos to experiment with new combinations with series in the bag

If Pakistan is to avoid the embarrassment, they'll need to put up a far superior performance in all the three departments of the game.

Published - 28 Mar 2019, 19:54 IST | Updated - 28 Mar 2019, 19:54 IST

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Until a few days ago, no one had enough faith in the Australian team including their own former players. The side had some quality players despite the loss of Steve Smith and David Warner. Yet, Australia somewhat went into a shell and skipper Aaron Finch’s poor form only made things worse for the side. But their performance in the last few weeks has been quite inspirational.

They shocked India in their own done and have already done the job against Pakistan with two games left. The team will now be looking to give some opportunities to the players on the bench in these final two matches before the World Cup. But at the same time, they will also fancy whitewashing the hosts as they’ve never been in such a good position in an ODI series in the last two years. If Pakistan is to avoid the embarrassment, they’ll need to put up a far superior performance in all the three departments of the game.

Team Combinations

Pakistan

Pakistan might consider one change to their eleven heading into the fourth ODI. Mohammad Amir could replace Mohammad Hasnain in the eleven. The rest of their order looks pretty much sorted. Unless they look to rest any of their players, all of them are expected to continue. The hosts will want to register a win in the 4th ODI and then possibly experiment with their eleven in the last game.

Predicted XI: Imam-ul-Haq, Shan Masood, Haris Sohail, Umar Akmal, Shoaib Malik (C), Mohammad Rizwan (WK), Imad Wasim, Yasir Shah, Usman Shinwari, Junaid Khan, Mohammad Amir.

Australia

Skipper Aaron Finch narrowly missed out on scoring his third consecutive century in the 3rd ODI. He is in exceptional form at the moment and is leading the team from the front. Usman Khawaja will continue to open the innings with him while Australia will look at a possibility of integrating Ashton Turner into the eleven. Kane Richardson, who did well in the BBL 2018-19, is likely to get a chance as well.

Predicted XI: Usman Khawaja, Aaron Finch (C), Shaun Marsh/Ashton Turner, Glenn Maxwell, Peter Handscomb, Marcus Stoinis, Alex Carey (WK), Jason Behrendorff/Kane Richardson, Pat Cummins, Nathan Lyon, Adam Zampa.

Focus will be on

Shoaib Malik (Pakistan)

Shoaib Malik is the most experienced campaigner in the current Pakistan squad. Given that his team hasn’t been doing really well, Malik has got to take the responsibility and bat slightly up the order. He is in good form but has failed to capitalise on the starts in all the three games thus far. His performance will be crucial if Pakistan is to win the fourth ODI.

Aaron Finch (Australia)

It is quite amusing to see how Aaron Finch has turned things around in this series. He is the same batsman who struggled to put bat to the ball until a few weeks ago. And now, here he is in the UAE almost scoring three consecutive ODI centuries. This is a massive boost for the Aussies and Finch will hope to carry on with the same kind of form in the remaining two games as well.