Match Details
Date: December 26-30, 2023
Time: 5:00 AM IST
Venue: Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne
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Preview
Australia will take on Pakistan in the second Test of the three-match series at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne. The Australian cricket team put together a dominating performance in the first Test at the Optus Stadium in Perth to extend their winning run to 15 straight matches against Pakistan. The margin of defeat by 360 runs has put the Men in Green in a very precarious position heading into the Boxing Day Test match versus Australia at the MCG in Melbourne.
Pitch Report
The pitches at the MCG in Melbourne are known for allowing the batters to score a lot of runs in Tests, while the bowlers get enough assistance in different stages of the contest as well. The average first-innings score in Tests at this venue is 306 in its long history, and the Australians will be fancying their chances of overhauling this total against a struggling Pakistan bowling lineup.
Team Analysis
Australia
The batting lineup of Australia was at its imperious best in the first Test of the series, with the likes of David Warner, Usman Khawaja, and Mitchell Marsh scoring a lot of runs against the hapless Pakistan bowlers. On the bowling side of things, the famous Australian attack of Mitchell Starc, the captain Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, and Nathan Lyon shared most of the 20 wickets amongst themselves.
SportsTiger Playing XI of Australia
David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Alex Carey (wk), Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins (c), Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood
Pakistan
Apart from the decent opening stand from Abdullah Shafique and Imam-ul-Haq in the first innings for Pakistan, the rest of the performance was extremely poor, getting bundled out for just 89 runs while chasing a target of 450 runs. There were some bright sparks in the bowling department for Pakistan with Aamer Jamal and Khurram Shahzad taking seven and five wickets respectively.
SportsTiger Playing XI of Pakistan
Abdullah Shafique, Imam-ul-Haq, Shan Masood (c), Babar Azam, Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Agha Salman, Faheem Ashraf, Aamer Jamal, Shaheen Afridi, Mohammed Wasim
Match Prediction
Conclusion
Australia are clear favourites to get the better of Pakistan in the second Test match at the MCG in Melbourne, owing to their current form at home and against the same opposition at home for the better part of the last 30 years.
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