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Australia in for a 5-0 series victory

Pakistan has a big task ahead at it now has to play to its potentials to avoid the 5-0 whitewash, which is the second ever in their annals, to register their first victory in this grueling tour. The first of the whitewash had come under the reign of Imran’s captaincy, when the West Indies were the opponents in 1988.

Mohammad Yousuf and his men have tasted just the defeat since the test at Sydney. Though the Pakistan team was expected to bounce back in the ODIs, they haven’t done justice to the talent, despite shades of brilliant fight backs getting witnessed in all of the 4 ODIs, in which Australia has proved its dominance by trouncing the disparate Pakistan team. The batting has let the Pakistan team down, and the middle order hasn’t lived up to its expectations. The two ‘Y’s have just 145 runs scored between them which tells the story of Pakistan batting collapse in this series.

The bowling has hit a new low as the bowlers barring Mohammed Asif haven’t found their rhythm, and the final Pakistan overs were embarrassing moments for the Pakistani fans. The spinners, Saeed Ajmal and Shahid Afridi, have gone for five runs per over, and haven’t enjoyed spells that have caused a pall of gloom over the Australian batsmen. They have been completely neutralized by the Australian batsmen. It goes to prove the delusions with which Yousuf is living at present, as he had hinted about the team’s improved performance under his stewardship earlier.

Australia on the other hand has exhibited a sparkling performance, and has made use of three new opening-bowling pairs, as all of them have a good tally of wickets in their bag. The top six Australian batsmen have come up with commendable performances, except for Ricky Ponting who has found the going tough and has only 70 runs to his credit, and has looked out of sorts in all the ODIs.

Now will he lead his team to enable a whitewash or will the Pakistan team emerge from the death bed to rattle the Australians? The game is sure to unveil a tough contest as the two teams vie for a victory, though with reasons entirely different from one another.

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