Pakistan will be eager to raise their game.
Debutant Pakistan off-spinner Bilal Asif ripped through the Australian middle-order with six wickets as the visitors were bowled out for 202 on the third day of the first Test, in Dubai, on Tuesday.
Their path to the semi-finals looking relatively easier in comparison, Australia will fancy their chances when they lock horns with a struggling Pakistan side whose hopes hangs by a thread in the ICC World Twenty20, in Mohali, on Friday.
'It would have given us more relief if the accused had been sentenced to death'
Those held guilty were -- Bashir Ahmed Usman Ghani Khairullah, Zakir Hussain Noor Mohammed Shaikh, Abdul Khan, Feroze Amani Malik, Moin Querishi and Salim Rahim Shaikh.
The uncapped pair are the newcomers in captain Steven Smith's 15-man squad, which includes 10 players with less than 10 Tests, as Australia look to rebuild following a string of retirements after the Ashes defeat in England.
Pandya's absence means that India will have to rejig their bowling attack. Jasprit Bumrah has already been rested for this series, as well as the tour of New Zealand, and this allows the think-tank to conduct one final experimentation with their bowling attack.
Rohit Sharma-led India's main aim would be to settle their middle-order combination and also find a perfect batting position for Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
Khan's spokesman Dr Shehbaz Gill said that the prime minister has just a slight fever and cough.
Pakistani security agencies on Thursday arrested two suspects involved in the car bomb blast outside the house of the 2008 Mumbai terror attack mastermind and chief of the banned Jamat-ud-Dawah (JuD) Hafiz Saeed, an official said.
Captain Aaron Finch scored a century as Australia beat Pakistan by eight wickets in the opening One-Day International between the countries at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Friday. Chasing 281 to win, the tourists reached their target with an over to spare and took a 1-0 lead in the five-match series, with Finch making 116 and Shaun Marsh unbeaten on 91.
The primary aim for the Rohit Sharma-led India against minnows Hong Kong would be to get their combination right before the big game against Pakistan on Wednesday.
Photos from Day 2 of the Boxing Day Test match between Australia and Pakistan, played at the MCG on Tuesday
In order to seal the place in the squad, the duo will have to cancel their league tours in South Africa and Bangladesh.
Since 1979, the BJP has not fielded any Muslim candidate from any parliamentary seat from the state.
The 34-year-old replaced Iftikhar Ahmed, who managed only 44 runs in four innings in the recent tour of Australia where Pakistan lost both Tests.
Images from Day 1 of the first Test between Australia and Pakistan, in Brisbane, on Thursday.
Sri Lanka trounced top-ranked Pakistan 3-0 after a 13-run victory in the third and final Twenty20, in front of 27,000 fans at the Gaddafi Stadium, in Lahore, on Wednesday. Needing 54 runs off the last five overs, with eight wickets in hand, Pakistan again stumbled in its run-chase for the third successive time in the series and were restricted to 134-6.
Nepal secured a historic entry into the upcoming World Cup qualifiers after a sensational last-ball one-wicket victory over Canada in the ICC World Cricket League Division Two in Windhoek (Namibia) on Wednesday.
The Delhi police on Friday charge-sheeted 17 accused, 12 of whom are absconding, for allegedly conspiring, recruiting Indian youths and establishing a base of terror outfit Al-Qaeda in Indian Subcontinent.
Sajjad Ahmed Khan, 27, a resident of Pulwama is also suspected to be involved in the conspiracy of Pulwama attacks.
A total of 123 candidates, including seven ministers of Congress-National Conference coalition, eight former ministers and legislators are in fray for the Jammu and Kashmir's first phase of elections scheduled later this month.
Former Pakistan leggie Abdul Qadir, reacting to Indian head coach Ravi Shastri's comparing Kohli to cult cricketing figures like Sir Vivian Richards and the iconic former Pakistan captain, lists traits that are similar to both
Four more death-row convicts were executed on Sunday in Pakistan for their involvement in an attack on former military ruler General Pervez Musharraf after the country lifted a ban on the death penalty following last week's deadly Taliban attack on a Peshawar school.
Pakistan seamer Mohammad Abbas destroyed Australia, picking up five wickets in both innings, as the hosts won the second and final Test by a huge margin of 373 runs to clinch the series 1-0.
He also wants the ICC to consider changes to ensure 'doosra' stays in the sport
The former captain's struggling innings of 51 off 96 balls and his failure to rotate the strike in the first ODI has brought to focus the rejigging that captain Virat Kohli and coach Ravi Shastri will have to fret upon.
Unbeaten half-centuries from Manish Pandey (95) and Ambati Rayudu (62) helped India 'B' and India 'A' register victories against South Africa 'A' and Australia 'A' respectively in separate quadrangular one-day series matches in Bengaluru.
photographer Fahhad Rajper made a series of powerful photographs of women called #TryBeatingMeLightly featuring Pakistani women of all ages reacting to the Council of Islamic Ideology's ridiculous bill about 'beating wives lightly'.
Australia survived a middle-order meltdown to beat Bangladesh by three wickets in a World Twenty20 Super 10 match on Monday to get their campaign up and running.
Australia's hopes of winning back respect and moving on from a ball-tampering scandal that plunged the team into disgrace face their first test on Sunday when Tim Paine's rebuilding side meet Pakistan in the series-opener in Dubai.
The Men in Blue have never won a bilateral ODI contest on Australian soil.
Having already secured their place in the final with three back-to-back wins, India are set to field their benched players against minnows United Arab Emirates (UAE) in their final league encounter of the Asia Cup T20 tournament, in Mirpur, on Thursday.
IMAGES from the 1st ODI played in Sydney on Saturday
The legendary Indian cricketer was the Man of the ODI series, but the Most Valuable Player title went to an unlikely Aussie, point out Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji.
Australia were two wickets from victory at the end of day four of the first day-night test against Pakistan on Sunday, but the tourists were buoyed by a feisty fourth innings chase and a brilliant unbeaten century from Asad Shafiq.
'This is for the first time that a strong, solid evidence-based investigation has happened.' 'It can meet international standards and put the onus on the Pakistanis.'
Rising Pune Supergiant, who have gone from strength to strength, will look to seal their place in the Play-offs with a win over inconsistent Delhi Daredevils in the Indian Premier League in New Delhi, on Friday.
Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan picked Virat Kohli as India's key player, but asserted that his team cannot take the other batsmen lightly when the teams meet in the ICC World T20 match in Bengaluru on Wednesday.
590 cricketers -- including 370 Indian players and 220 overseas players -- will go under the hammer during the two-day mega auction in Bengaluru on February 12 and 13.
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