Key Battles to watch out for; Pakistan's Tour of Australia, 2016-17

Key Battles to watch out for; Pakistan's tour of Australia,

(2016-17) (Test Series)

Welcome to the second edition of 'Key Battles to watch out for', this time featuring Pakistan's tour of Australia! What makes this series all the more interesting is that the Aussies are fresh from a series defeat against the South Africans. The last match would have allowed the Aussies to gain some lost confidence though. Pakistan, too, after a humiliating series defeat at the hands of New Zealand, will be playing with a lot of expectations on their shoulders. Nobody taking the field at The Gabba on December 15th will be more determined than Steven Smith. With critics doubting his skills as a leader, Smith will definitely be under the gun, come December 15th. Now let us have a look at some of the individual battles that have the potential to change the course of the entire series.

1) Sami Aslam vs. Mitchell Starc

Sami Aslam, the young 21 year old, was given the daunting task to open the innings for Pakistan, against an on song English bowling up, and boy, he flourished! Though, recent times have not been to kind to Sami Aslam. With scores of 19, 7, 5 and 91 respectively against New Zealand, the PCB would perhaps be a tad bit disappointed at the youngster. There is no looking back now, as Aslam will be facing Mitchell Starc, who will be steaming in with the red cherry. If Aslam does not do anything about his slightly shaky technique outside off stump, Starc will be all over him in this series. To add to that, Starc has the most first over dismissals across all formats (19) (Since January 1st, 2015). This series is going to be a 'make or break' one for Sami Aslam.

2) Mohammed Amir vs. Steven Smith

Critics say that Mohammed Amir has not been at his best since his comeback to International Cricket. In his defense, the Pakistani fielders have been quite atrocious. Amir could have easily had 10 to 15 wickets more, had the fielding been decent. Nevertheless, at his best, Amir can tear apart any batting line up with ease. What is very interesting with Smith's technique is that he shuffles across from leg stump to almost an off stump line, which makes it very difficult to play in-swingers. We saw in the first ODI against New Zealand, Boult bowled a ripping in-swinger and Smith was trapped in front. There was a clear daylight between the bat and ball. Amir too bowls fantastic in-swingers and if he can get it right in the first Test, particularly against Steven Smith, then it is going to put a lot of pressure on the entire Aussie batting line-up.

3) Nathan Lyon vs. Sarfaraz Ahmed

Nathan Lyon seems to have lost his mojo, and indeed, it has been lost for quite a while now. With Adam Zampa and Cameron Boyce knocking on the doors for a Test selection, Lyon would be facing a lot of heat. Going wicketless in two consecutive Test's is not something that Australia can afford from their main spinner. Sarfaraz normally comes into bat at that point of the match when the spinner is on, which means that he will be up against Nathan Lyon. Sarfaraz has a very different, unique way of playing spin, but it is very effective. The main feature of his batting is the way he uses the crease, back and forth. The way he batted against the likes of Herath in Sri Lanka was commendable. So if he can milk some runs off Lyon early on, it could potentially put Lyon off not just for the match, but the entire series as well. Very interesting battle, this.

4) Babar Azam vs. Australia

Babar Azam is being considered as the next 'big thing' for Pakistan Cricket. There can't possibly be a better time to prove himself than this Test series down under. As Mickey Arthur considers Azam as a 'young Virat Kohli', it will definitely take some showing to match upto that. The last time that Kohli went down under, he amassed 639 runs in 4 Test's, at an average of 86.5. If Azam can do even half of that, it can be said that he had a good series. Technically, he looks solid, both of the front foot and back foot, equally against spin and pace. However, in this series, Azam must steady the ship and just focus on batting around the senior players like Misbah and Younis, who have the tendency to play the long knocks.

Special Mention: Tailenders 

In conditions like that of Australia, so often we see one batsman stranded on one end as the entire batting line up collapses. Of all the teams that have succeeded in Australia, the tail has wagged more often than not. South Africa, who recently beat Australia in Australia, always had their tail wagging. Philander added lots of crucial runs along with the tail and made sure that South Africa got to a good total, if not a respectable one. For Australia too, Mitchell Starc takes that added responsibility of batting when it is required and does well, quite often. For Pakistan, the best tailender is Mohammed Amir. He scored a 22 ball 50 with some seriously impressive hitting. His batting, just like his bowling, will be a critical factor in this series. I'm sure that Mickey Arthur is well aware of the same.

With that, the second edition of 'Key battles to watch out for' comes to an end.

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