Australia’s captain Steven Smith won the toss and chose to bat first against Pakistan in their vital World Twenty20 match at the PCA Stadium in Mohali.
Pakistan had to win to stand any chance of staying in the tournament, while an Australian victory would ensure that they do not need to worry about net run-rate ahead of their clash with India .
Smith named another reshuffled Australian side with the soon-to-retire Shane Watson dropping down the order to make room for the return of Aaron Finch at the expense of Mitchell Marsh, while Josh Hazlewood was included ahead of John Hastings in the hope the Mohali wicket will have some additional bounce.
Pakistan recalled the fit-again Wahab Riaz in place of Mohammad Irfan, who was described as resting by his captain Shahid Afridi.
Teams:
Australia 1 Aaron Finch, 2 Usman Khawaja, 3 David Warner, 4 Steven Smith (capt), 5 Shane Watson, 6 Glenn Maxwell, 7 James Faulkner, 8 Peter Nevill (wk), 9 Nathan Coulter-Nile, 10 Adam Zampa, 11 Josh Hazlewood
Pakistan 1 Sharjeel Khan, 2 Ahmed Shehzad, 3 Khalid Latif, 4 Umar Akmal, 5 Shoaib Malik, 6 Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), 7 Shahid Afridi (capt), 8 Imad Wasim, 9 Wahab Riaz, 10 Mohammad Sami, 11 Mohammad Amir
