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David Warner week is underway at the SCG, but if
conditions on the surface and in the weather hold true, there might be a tough
Test match in Sydney.
Pakistan gave Australia a serious fright in Melbourne,
and if you side with Mohammad Hafeez, a few “inconsistent umpiring”
calls and some unforced field errors, they could have pulled off a Christmas
miracle and defeated the home team.
But as it was, both the series and the match ended in
defeat. However, that does not imply Sydney will be a lifeless, boring place.
Apart from crucial World Test Championship [WTC] points, this location has
history for both teams. In 2010, Pakistan ought to have prevailed. They somehow
shot themselves in the foot to lose the unwinnable Test match, much like
Melbourne did the previous week. Pakistan’s final Test victory in Australia,
which occurred in 1995, also took place at the SCG.
Just 14 months ago, Pakistan defeated New Zealand in
the T20 World Cup semi-final, setting a record for the country’s best
limited-overs World Cup performance in the previous ten years.
Australia’s opener aims to go off Test cricket in
style, but Pakistan’s record in Sydney and their prospects of pulling off
another upset might be lost in the Warner wash. Many Australian Test greats saw
their careers come to an end in Sydney, and while Warner may not have received
the same level of emotional support from Sydney fans as some of the other
greats who ended their careers at the SCG, he will undoubtedly receive the same
level of warmth and goodwill from the city as he did from Perth and Melbourne
when he made his final bows there.
Whether you like him or not, he has amassed an
incredible Test record as the most successful opener for Australia in history,
and he is statistically the best opener of his generation in global cricket by
some margin.
His teammates are eager to send him go with a victory
because they genuinely appreciate his record and his contributions to Test
cricket. For the third consecutive Test match, Australia is expected to start
without a change, demonstrating their amazing consistency. With Imam-ul-Haq
under pressure to maintain his spot and a desire to play a specialist spinner
in Sydney, Pakistan can only hope for the same kind of stability as they
prepare to make more changes.
Arriving in Australia, Saud Shakeel was a rising star
in the world of international cricket. However, similar to several athletes who
have made a successful debut on the subcontinent, he has faced challenges
during his initial visit to Australia. Although he has not been fully
exposed—he has reached 20 in three of his four innings thus far—Pakistan has
struggled with his inability to get going and is concerned about the way he has
been dismissed. He has been dismissed three times by Josh Hazlewood, who has worked
him over on the front and back foot from around the wicket. In the fourth
innings in Melbourne, Mitchell Starc’s extra pace and bounce forced an error at
a crucial point. If Pakistan are to beat Australia in Australia, they need runs
from Shakeel.