Pakistan and Australia will play their first ODI at Qaddafi Stadium Lahore amid tight security measures being taken to avoid any untoward incident, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
Lahore police have deployed over 8,000 police personnel—men and women—204 Dolphin squad, Peru 107, 45 teams of Elite Force at the important points that would be patrolling to maintain law and order.
Lahore Police have been monitoring the route and important places through CCTV camera. The authorities continued search and sweep operation and also deployed vigilance teams for security checking.
Australia skipper Aaron Finch talking to virtual press conference said that Pakistan side based on world class players where great batter like Babar Azam is captain of the side.
Finch said that Shaheen Afridi is a world class bowler who swings the new ball. “Haris Rauf is also part of the team whom I've faced during Big Bash and so Hasan Ali is also part,” he said.
In latest update, left-handed batter Matthew Renshaw has joined whiteball squad of Australia and will be available to play last two ODI's and one-off T20 at Gaddafi Stadium Lahore against Pakistan as cricket Australia confirms allrounder Mitchell Marsh has been ruled out from the first ODI between Pakistan and Australia at Lahore on 29 March due to injury.
Pakistan side led by top batter Babar Azam performed two days of extensive practice for team Pakistan.
https://twitter.com/TheRealPCB/status/1508510810267607046
Pakistan is currently six hours behind Australia's eastern seaboard but with all ODIs scheduled as day-night games, it makes viewing live a late-night proposition, especially for those further east. The 3pm local start means a 9pm start in Sydney and Melbourne, or 8.30pm in Adelaide and 6pm in Perth.
Cricket Australia said that it's fair to say Australia will be fielding an inexperienced line-up in these matches, with both bat and ball. Given the hectic Test schedule just gone, on the back of a big Ashes summer, and with a Sri Lanka tour now confirmed for June and July, a host of big names are sitting out of this series.
Pat Cummins, Mitch Starc and Josh Hazlewood have all been rested for the white-ball leg of the tour after participating in the Test series, Jhye Richardson was not considered for the entire tour with a look to the long-term, and Kane Richardson has not been risked for such a whirlwind tour after he tweaked his hamstring at training in Melbourne last week.
Teams (from):
PAKISTAN: Babar Azam (captain), Shadab Khan, Abdullah Shafique, Asif Afridi, Asif Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imam-Ul-Haq, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Haris, Zahid Mahmood, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Wasim Junior, Saud Shakeel, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shahnawaz Dahani, Usman Qadir.
AUSTRALIA: Aaron Finch (captain), Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Jason Behrendorff, Alex Carey, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Ben McDermott, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Swepson, Adam Zampa.
Reporter Irfan Malik