Australia are likely to include Brad Hogg for the second T20I in Dubai on a wicket that is expected to aid slow bowlers, Shane Watson has said. Australia lost the first Twenty20 to Pakistan by seven wickets on Wednesday after their side collapsed to their second-lowest total in Twenty20 matches.
Hogg, 41, made a comeback to Australia’s Twenty20 side in a match against India in February this year and since then has played in the IPL and the SLPL. “There is a good chance Brad Hogg will play,” Watson said. “He’s a wicket-taking bowler as he showed throughout his whole career and in his comeback as well.”
“There’s no doubt that the wicket is only going to turn more, there’s only one wicket out there so I pretty much consider that we’re going to be playing on that wicket for the next couple of games as well.”
Australia, who batted first, lost regular wickets and were all out for 89. The batsmen not only struggled against the spin trio of Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Hafeez and Raza Hasan - who shared six wickets - but also against seamers Umar Gul and Sohail Tanvir. Only three batsmen in the line-up managed double-digit scores, with David Warner’s 22 being the highest.
“You’ve got to take some positives I suppose, batting there weren’t positives there at all, but in the end, we just have to play a lot better, we’ve to bat a lot better to be able to put Pakistan’s batting under pressure,” Watson said.
“I think their bowling in general was pretty difficult to handle. Umar Gul bowled beautifully at the start as well as Sohail Tanvir, before the spinners. So they’ve got a well-balanced bowling unit, Hafeez has high quality spinners as well, but I think they’ve got a good balance.”
This time pakistan have three top spinner... They are scared from us.... hahaha.. maza aye ga aj ka match dekhnay ka... Live score update ho ga yahan..???
He is still incredibly fit, agile and really that’s the reason why he is still selected. But I do agree that Australia are really thin on resources. At least when their T20 team is concerned. Then again, the thing with cricket, as in all sports, is that it comes in cycles. You dominate one generation, and then struggle the next.
Australia were really untouchable in the 90s and deep into 2000s. Now, they are back to being mere mortals.
