Betting Preview of Aus v Pak - 1st T20I at MCG

It will be the last match of the tour for Pakistan and they will be desperate to win at least one game before they head back to their country. After having lost eight successive games, it is only natural that the Pakistanis expect that much in the T20I at Melbourne against Australia.

However, given the fact that Pakistan will be without its main captain Shahid Afridi, could spell doom for them. Afridi, for the uninitiated, had been banned by the ICC for chewing into the ball in a bid to tamper with it in order to help his bowlers!

This means that Shoaib Malik will be leading the side. However, given that this will be a one-off for Malik, it will be interesting to see how good a job he performs with leading the side.

Apart from Afridi, the Pakistanis will miss both Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan, both of whom are not a part of the T20I side. This puts the onus totally on the young guns, and hence, it could get difficult for the visitors to win their first game on tour.

For Australia, Ricky Ponting has retired from this format and so Michael Clarke and Cameron White will be the captain and vice-captain of the side. Apart from the pair, the rest of the batting is strong enough to pose many problems for the opposition, and barring the absence of Peter Siddle down the order, the bowling is strong enough.

Hence, it is surprising to find Pakistan still at only 3.25 to win the game (Sporting Bet) as compared to 1.44 (888Sport) for an Aussie win. To me, the chances of Pakistan winning their first game on tour seems as remote as Pakistan is from Australia.