The upcoming battle between Australia and Pakistan today can be termed as the 'battle of equals', not necessarily because of the stature of the two teams in ODIs but their current team form and run in the Cricket World Cup 2023. The two teams also share the same set of issues plaguing them at the moment. Starting with Pakistan, they got off to a good start, beating weaker teams like Netherlands and Sri Lanka with diffficulties. Their issues in batting and bowling got underlined in the big loss to India in third game. 


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On the other hand, Aussies got two tough opponents in the first two games in form of hosts India and South Africa. They did not look the Australian sides of the past with bowling and batting misfiring. But the five-time champions displayed a dominant show vs the Sri Lankans next, beating them easily. However, one cannot surely say that Australia have played to their full potential in this World Cup so far. The form of David Warner, Steve Smith is a concern while the late middle order has not clicked yet as well. The bowling department did improve its game by leaps and bounds vs Lankans though. 



Pakistan's bowling remains a big issue. Shaheen Afridi is unable to pick wickets with the new ball which used to be a huge strength for the Men in Green. Haris Rauf also went for plenty vs India. The top-order continues to look shaky with regular openers Imam-ul-Haq and Fakhar Zaman completely out of touch. Fair to say that both Australia and Pakistan head into this contest with an aim to win but also display an improved show and not repeat the mistakes they have done in the recent matches of the World Cup. 


Watch out for Shaheen as he is hungry for wickets from the Pakistan team. Warner is also fired up in his what could be his last World Cup and is hungry for runs. Steve Smith has spent hours in nets and will be looking to smash some runs too. 


Match: Australia vs Pakistan, Match 18, World Cup 2023 


Venue: M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru, Karnataka 


Date & Time: Friday, October 19, 2:00 pm IST

AUS vs PAK Dream 11 Prediction


Keepers – Mohammad Rizwan, Josh Inglis


Batsmen – David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Babar Azam, Abdullah Shafique


All-rounders – Glenn Maxwell 


Bowlers – Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf


AUS vs PAK, MY Dream 11 Prediction


Mohammad Rizwan, Josh Inglis, David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Babar Azam, Abdullah Shafique, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf


AUS vs PAK Squads:


Pakistan Squad: Abdullah Shafique, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam(c), Mohammad Rizwan(w), Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf, Agha Salman, Fakhar Zaman, Usama Mir, Mohammad Wasim Jr


Australia Squad: Mitchell Marsh, David Warner, Steven Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Inglis(w), Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins(c), Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood, Sean Abbott, Travis Head, Alex Carey, Cameron Green


AUS vs PAK Probable Playing 11s


Pakistan Probable XI: Abdullah Shafique, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Usama Mir/Mohammad Nawaz, Hassan Ali, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf


Australia Probable XI: David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Josh Inglis (wk), Marcus Stoinis, Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood