Australia would be eyeing for a whitewash here.
Preview
AUS vs PAK will lock horns in the 3rd Test of the Pakistan tour of Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground in Sydney from January 3. Australia has already won the three-match test series as they lead by 2-0 and would be looking to whitewash, while Pakistan would be looking forward to at least getting a consolation win and saving face.
In the last encounter which was held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Pakistan won the toss and elected to field first. Australia had a brilliant start with an opening stand of 90 runs. The entire top order of Australia performed well, helping them reach a total of 318 runs. With two half-centuries from the top order, Pakistan also had a fantastic start. The middle order could not do much, but the lower order contributed to helping them reach 264 runs.
In the third innings, Australia was off to a bizarre start, losing wickets one after the other and being reduced to 16 for four, where Mir Hamza took wickets on back-to-back deliveries. However, the storm was calmed by their solid middle order and piled on a total of 262 runs. Pakistan had a huge target of 317, which looked pretty daunting. They had a couple of good partnerships in the middle, which included fifties from Shan Masood and Agha Salman, but still could not save the defeat from Pakistan as they lost the game by 79 runs.
Match Information
Australia vs Pakistan, 3rd Test
Pakistan tour of Australia, 2 Jan 2024, Tue, 5:00 AM IST ,Sydney
Probable PlayingXI
Australia
David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, TM Head, MR Marsh, AT Carey, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins(C), Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood
Bench: SM Boland, LR Morris, C Green
Pakistan
Abdullah Shafique, Saim Ayub, Shan Masood(C), Babar Azam, Saud Shakeel, Agha Salman, Aamer Jamal, Sajid Khan, Mohammad Rizwan, Hasan Ali, Mir Hamza
Bench: S Ahmed, Faheem Ashraf, Abrar Ahmed, S Afridi, Mohammad Wasim, IU Haq, Nauman Ali, Mohammad Nawaz
Injury News
Shaheen Afridi will be rested for this game while Imam has been dropped.
Weather Report: Clear Sky
Win Prediction: Australia
Pitch Condition: Bowling
Avg 1st Inning Score: 177
Pitch Report
Captains
Mitchell Marsh AUS BOWL
Lyon has picked up nine wickets with an economy of 3.39 in two matches of the series so far. Gabba has been one of his favourite venues where he holds a great track record which should definitely be kept in mind.
Steve Smith AUS