The series between Pakistan and Australia is scheduled to take place from the 4th of March and Aussies are visiting us after a long gap of 24 years. The last time when Australia came here, was in 1998 and at that time they won both tests as well as the ODI series under the captaincy of Mark Taylor.
Australia has just announced their test squad and is coming with a full-strength team. The speculations made earlier was that some of the players are still hesitant to visit and might opt out even after the security clearance was made earlier this month. But after the announcement of all the major players coming to play here, it is being considered a great gesture by them.
It will be the first occasion after the incident of 2009 when the Sri Lankan team was attacked in Lahore that a major cricketing team is coming here. South Africa, Sri Lanka along with some other teams have also visited since 2015 but as we know that the tour made by Australia will have tremendous importance at the international level due to their domination in cricket.
However, some people still feel that there are chances where some changes might be made and a few of the announced players might miss out. The argument proposed by them is that as IPL is also around and the auction is set to take place on the 12th and 13th February, so after the major players get sold for high prices, they might prioritize IPL over their national team.
But the counter-argument, I would like to draw here is that the test matches hold great importance as they are not ordinary matches but the points that the winning team will get can guarantee them a place in the finals so there is no chance that IPL will be prioritised here.
Yes, seeing the Covid scenario, anything can happen and that can result in some change being made to the squad later but as far as IPL is concerned, being nationalists, Aussies will never compromise even if a handsome amount of money is offered to them.
Author: Ali Ayub