Australia v Pakistan in U.A.E

Well unfortunately for "PAK" they won't be facing a full strength ODI side. For all we know Haddin will be captaining the side in the absence of Ponting, Clarke and Hussey...

BAnned players? Banned by whom? The PCB only Sledge. It was never an ICC ban. PCB can lift the bans whenever they wish to.

Yes I agree. But as a cricket fan I am naturally sad to see an under strength team playing pakistan. You being an Aussies wont exactly feel the way any pak fan will at  the moment. It is not often that Pak gets to play Aussies. this is why we all  wanted the full strength team. But,, ofcorse they wont do it just to please the pak fans, sepcially when the Ashes is just round the corner.

I think it is a chance for Pakistan to test a few younger Players against the australian b-team. I dont think the pakistani players will be motivated enough to face this team.

There will be some players out there of note for Australia. Lee could get a chance to show his stuff against a decent batting line up to prove himself before the Ashes. Guys like Callum Ferguson, Shane Watson maybe, Shaun Marsh will be there... as well as blokes like Cam White and Hussey. 

I agree, even without Ponting, Clarke and M Hussey, AUS are a very decent side, infact still much better than most of the other teams. moreover, PAK need not worry about things that are not in their control. Their job is to go out there and play against whatever line up they are pitted against, and try to WIN.

Yerp, the side has been announced. Pakistani supporters will not be disappointed. Symonds, Lee, Watson and Shaun Marsh are back - world class ODI players who have been out with injury and off field issues are back in the Aussie squad. Clarke is going to be there and lead the side as Punter takes some time off (he is also not playing IPL - so it's a good break for him before the Ashes).

Australia squad Michael Clarke (capt), Brad Haddin (wk), Nathan Bracken, Callum Ferguson, Brett Geeves, Nathan Hauritz, Ben Hilfenhaus, James Hopes, David Hussey, Ben Laughlin, Brett Lee, Shaun Marsh, Andrew Symonds, Shane Watson.

Hopes has been Australias form player in ODIs in my opinion, while guys like D Hussey, Bracken and Haddin won't disappoint. No White in the squad or Johnson (who is being rested and won't play IPL either).

Better side than I initially expected.

Ofcorse Yousuf is a big loss. But the batting seems just fine to me. The Aussies batting ain't any stronger eitherfor this series. They will miss Ponting and Hussey big time.

I dont want to predict

Even I feel Aussies would win the series. But it won't be 5-0. Though Aussies are stronger, the difference between these two teams in limited overs cricket is not that big. If there was a 3 test series, I would have predicted 3-0 Aussies.

Guess what, Younus says it'll be 5-0 BUT in favour of Pakistan!  

Edited by sam_ahmed - 12 April 2009 at 7:01am

but it can be 3-2 either in favour of Australia or in Pakistan. 5-0 for Australia is not too easy

Pakistan bearly squeezed a 3-0 result against a much weaker Windies team, I really can't see them beating Aussies.  Windies could have easily win 2 of those games if it weren't for one bad over by Taylor and no other batting support bar the batting trio.

I don't rate Infitkhar Anjum at all, he's nothing more than medium pace and I doubt he'll extract much swing with the white ball in the UAE. Gul and Tanvir are definitely the best two quicks and Gul especially will do well, while Tanvir's uniqueness in bowling wrong footed always seems to confuse the batsmen. Afridi will do okay as usual, he won't bag a whole lot of wickets and the Aussies have played him quite decently in the past. Akhtar hasn't played an ODI since January and his fitness is always a concern. I don't write off players like him, in fact him and Lee are pretty much in the exact same boat - 'written off' express bowlers making a comeback after a bit of time off, bowling with new young guys in the side. It will be interesting to see the head to head performances between the two.
The Pakistan officials think spin will be the key, so perhaps we shouldn't look too much into the pace attack. I'm not sure - we'll wait and see.

The middle order of Pakistan will struggle. I feel Shoaib Malik is a decent batsman, but he's no Mohammed Yousuf. Furthermore, the likes of Afridi and Kamran Amal are inconsistent. A lot of pressure will be on the skipper, Younus.

I think an Aussie pace attack of Bracken, Lee and Hilfenhaus is formidable - but Bracken has been a bit out of touch and Lee is coming from injury. If they are all fit and bowling well Pakistan will be in trouble. I can also see Hauritz doing somewhat well with this his tight off spin, which has been successful in domestic cricket.

Good luck to both sides.