Australia v Pakistan Preview, third Quarter-final at Adelaide

Australia has by and large been a pace-oriented attack, Xavier Doherty’s left-arm spin summoned only for the clash against Sri Lanka in the belief that the SCG surface might assist the spinners. It’s almost a given that Doherty will sit on the bench for this game too, with Glenn Maxwell donning the spinning shoes. Too many pacers might suggest a one-dimensional mode of attack, but each of Australia’s quicks, left or right, brings a different skill, a different dimension.

Matches against Afghanistan and Scotland, in particular, allowed Australia to give all the top-order batsmen decent game time before the quarterfinals. The biggest gains in the last few days have been Clarke’s occupation of the crease, and Shane Watson rediscovering the runs on the SCG belter against Sri Lanka. At 5 or 6, Watson provides great muscle to the batting; at 3, Steven Smith provides steel and stability. It’s an awe-inspiring line-up with Brad Haddin at No. 8. For all its bowling wealth, Pakistan will rest a little uneasy.

And, make no mistake, Pakistan has a plethora of bowling riches, even though Mohammad Irfan has been ruled out of the rest of the competition with a pelvis injury. Wahab has been the enforcer with Rahat and Sohail playing able foils; Shahid Afridi hasn’t hit wicket-taking mode but has been his usual pressure-building self, allowing the quicks to feed off his parsimony. If Misbah can work his combination around to bring back Yasir Shah, the legspinner, it will make the attack more menacing but might end up weakening the batting. A tricky call, that.

As Sri Lanka bowed out of the World Cup on Wednesday, ODI cricket bid goodbye to Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene. Misbah and Shahid Afridi have also said they intend retiring from ODI cricket at the end of the World Cup. It is unlikely that they, or the rest of the team, will settle for a quarterfinal exit. But for that, Australia must be felled. Even for mercurial, unpredictable Pakistan, that will be quite a challenge.

Teams (from):
Australia: David Warner, Aaron Finch, Steven Smith, Michael Clarke (capt), Shane Watson, Glenn Maxwell, James Faulkner, Brad Haddin (wk), Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Johnson, Josh Hazlewood, George Bailey, Mitchell Marsh, Xavier Doherty.

**Pakistan:**Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), Ahmed Shehzad, Haris Sohail, Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), Umar Akmal, Sohaib Maqsood, Shahid Afridi, Wahab Riaz, Rahat Ali, Sohail Khan, Ehsan Adil, Younis Khan, Yasir Shah, Nasir Jamshed.