Oz, Pak tie set to be a thriller

Bengaluru: Australia's cricketing DNA is constructed by meticulousness and Pakistan's by explosiveness. When they meet each other here on Friday, Australia and Pakistan will have to regain those qualities in batting and bowling to infuse a fresh life into their World Cup campaign, which is yet to go into overdrive.

Pakistan's strength lies in their ability to play fearless cricket in the face of pressure. Make a quick rewind to their glory year of 1992 for a validation of that remark. But in this World Cup, they caved in at the first hint of real pressure, a match against India.

There simply was no fight in their seven-wicket battering by the Men in Blue. That mammoth chase of 345 at Hyderabad in their second match came on a featherbed against a vastly short of quality Sri Lanka, and taking it as a pointer will be sheer naivety.

Captain Pat Cummins hoped that his batters will fire on all cylinders against Pakistan. Apart from Josh Inglis and Mitchell Marsh none of the other Australian batsmen have been able to make a fifty in the tournament so far, and Cummins was banking on the batsmen-friendly nature of the Chinnaswamy stadium to buck the trend.

Now, the Aussies offer another genuine pressure point to the Green Brigade. A side immersed in its own turmoil, the five-time champions are no India but they are a rival not to be scoffed at. Pakistan will know that very well because Australia hold a 69-34 advantage in ODIs and a 6-4 edge in the 50-over World Cups.

Pakistan perforce will have to shed their timidity and it should start from the top. Opener Imam-ul-Haq has made just 63 runs from three matches, and the left-hander needs to give more solid support to Abdullah Shafique, who has replaced misfiring Fakhar Zaman. They have another problem in the fluctuating form of skipper Babar Azam. Babar, Pakistan's batting mainstay, made a fifty against India, but it was preceded by two ordinary outings against Netherlands and Sri Lanka. Both these batters will have to contribute heavily against the Aussies, who have a pace attack that can potentially damage any batting line-up. They also have to find a solution for the over-reliance of the middle-order on Mohammad Rizwan.

The likes of Saud Shakeel, who made a fifty against Netherlands, and the hard-hitting Iftikhar Ahmed need to find the road that leads them to consistency. In the absence of injured pacer Naseem Shah, Pakistan has leaned heavily on the 23-year-old shoulders of Shaheen Shah Afridi but the left-arm pacer is nowhere near his best in the tournament.