Big picture: Who cares wins
Australia have been criticized in some quarters for their “lack of interest” in the ODI format following their shock 2-1 loss to Pakistan. They play an equally diminished T20I side with three first-choice T20I bowlers, perennial T20 captain Mitchell Marsh and best T20 opener Travis Head unavailable. It gives Pakistan the opportunity to complete a rare white-ball bilateral series in Australia, with the same group of fast bowlers barring Mohammad Hasnain, set to be unleashed on the same fragile batting unit in the three-match series starting on Thursday.
But the immediacy of results in T20I cricket is less important for Australia than it was in the ODI series. The series is part of their early build-up to the 2026 T20 World Cup and 2028 Olympics after their experienced squad exited the 2024 T20 World Cup at the Super Eight stage.
The winds of change have already blown during the UK’s five T20I matches against Scotland and England. Josh Inglis is now the permanent wicket-keeper and will be stand-in captain for this series, as he was in the last ODI in Perth. He is also a mainstay in the top four and looks set to bat at number three after an impressive century for Scotland in that position. Matthew Short and Jake Fraser-McGurk will open together in T20Is for the first time after taking turns as captain. Partner in the United Kingdom. Fraser-McGurk finished third in his last T20I for England and hit a half-century. He will be more comfortable in the shorter format than he was in the ODIs but his technique against the new, moving, bouncing ball will be tested again by the Pakistani fast bowlers as he competes with Short to be Head’s permanent partner in T20I cricket. For Pakistan, this will be their first T20I since they failed to reach the Super Eight in the T20 World Cup in June. RizBar’s style of cricket received heavy criticism in the wake of the World Cup where Babar Azam lost the white-ball captaincy to Mohammad Rizwan. Any changes to their approach to cricket and long-term planning for 2026 and 2028 have been postponed following the resignation of Gary Kirsten with Jason Gillespie in the caretaker position. Pakistan did not need to show any increased aggression with the bat in the ODI series as they won with a brilliant fast bowling performance. They will no doubt be looking to repeat their bowling success in the T20I series against a similar top-class side in Australia. It remains to be seen how they organize the batting with Saim Ayub not being mentioned in the team after opening in the last T20I alongside Rizwan and making 82 and 42 in the ODI wins in Adelaide and Perth. Pakistan also did not use a fifth fielder in the ODI series but will likely need the fifth and sixth options in the T20Is.
Form Guide Australia: LWWWW (last five completed matches, most recent first)
Pakistan: WWLLL
In the spotlight: Tim David and Babar Azam
Tim David is going through an interesting phase of his career. At 28 years of age, the T20 hired gun has come out of the boil as a tight end of late in a role that is very difficult to be consistent. He remains a key part of Australia’s midfield in the shortest format, but the team hierarchy has identified that he has been underutilized at the World Cup and wants to allow him to face more balls to give him more time to prepare before the final launch. He finished in the top five once in the five matches on the recent UK tour. He may get a chance in that slot during this series.
Babar Azam remains the No. 4 ranked T20I batsman in the world, but his strike rate has been the focus of attention in the wake of the World Cup fiasco. It remains to be seen where he will bat in this series but he will be released. He looked well connected in the ODI series but did not come under any pressure on the scoring rate in those games. It will be interesting to see if he can up the pace in T20Is or if he sticks to his ways.
TEAM NEWS: Injury returns fast for Australia Australia will have at least three forced changes from the last T20I in September with Head, Connolly and Cameron Green all unavailable. Glenn Maxwell returns after the break from the T20I leg of the UK tour. Ellis, Bartlett and Johnson returned from injury to join Sean Abbott in the squad. Three of these four will form the pace attack alongside Adam Zampa with some rotation likely over the three matches.
Australia (possible): 1 Matt Short, 2 Jake Fraser-McGurk, 3 Josh Inglis (captain/wk), 4 Glenn Maxwell, 5 Tim David, 6 Marcus Stoinis, 7 Aaron Hardy, 8 Nathan Ellis/Sean Abbott, 9 Xavier Bartlett. , 10 Spencer Johnson, 11 Adam Zampa
Pakistan squad: Mohammad Rizwan (captain/wk), Abbas Afridi, Agha Salman, Arafat Minhas, Babar Azam, Haris Rauf, Haseebullah Khan (wk), Irfan Khan, Jehandad Khan, Naseem Shah, Umair Yousuf, Sahibzada Farhan, Shaheen Shah Afridi. Sufyan Muqim, Usman Khan.
Pitch and conditions There has only been one professional match at the Gabba so far this season and that was a WBBL match. It was one of the highest-scoring matches of the season and both sides expect a good white-ball pitch with more pace and bounce for the fast bowlers. It will be warm and humid, so the ball will likely swing. There is also a small threat of rain and thunderstorms in the forecast.
Quotes “Obviously T20 cricket is a completely different format, so I think we’ll take what we’ve learned from the ODI series and the information we’ve gathered on the bowlers and their batsmen. But it’s a clean slate and a new format. We’re really looking forward to that.”
Josh Inglis talks about bouncing back from ODI series loss
