Australia and Pakistan go head to head in a battle to come up trumps in the third ODI and take a crucial lead in the series.
Aussies open series with a win
Having won the opening match of the series fairly comfortably, Australia relinquished the hold that they have had over Pakistan throughout this tour by going down in the second match.
That win – their first against Australia in 12 years – would have galvanised Pakistan and what the team in green will want is to take that momentum and run with it, all the way to a second victory.
They will be helped by the fact that Australia's leading fast bowler – Mitchell Starc – will not be playing the 3rd ODI in Perth, with the pacer rested, while the tyro Chris Lynn will miss the rest of the series through a neck injury. Mitchell Marsh is also an injury miss for Australia.
Billy Stanlake will take Starc's place, with Peter Handscomb, who terrorised Pakistan in the Test series, set to move in to the batting order. Handscomb will have a big role to play, because Australia have not been at their batting best in this series, with the coach Darren Lehmann demanding more from them.
"We got saved by Matthew Wade in Brisbane when we were in trouble, so to have the top four or five do all the batting in this game will be good," Lehmann said. "They've been training really well.
"You can only do so much training, they've got to do it out on the park. So we're making sure they're fresh and ready to go.
"The batters know what they want to do, they know how they want to do it. It's just a matter of implementing it out there."
That will be the plan for Pakistan as well, with Mohammed Hafeez, the captain, hoping for more of the same from his bowlers, while expecting his batsmen to get the job done, like they did with great efficiency in the previous match.
Confirmed playing XI: Australia: David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Steve Smith (C), Peter Handscomb, Travis Head, Glenn Maxwell, Matthew Wade, James Faulkner, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Billy Stanlake.
Pakistan: Mohammad Hafeez (C), Sharjeel Khan, Babar Azam, Asad Shafiq, Shoaib Malik, Umar Akmal, Mohammad Rizwan, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Amir, Hasan Ali, Junaid Khan.
When to Watch Live
Australia vs Pakistan third ODI is scheduled for a 11.20 am local time (8.50am IST, 3.20am GMT) start.
Live Streaming and TV guide:
India: TV: Star Sports 2, Star Sports HD2. Live Streaming: Hotstar.
Australia: TV: Channel 9. Live streaming: Channel 9 live
US, Canada: TV: Willow TV. Live Streaming: Willow TV Online.
UK: TV: BT Sport. Live Streaming: Watch BT Sport
Live Score: ICC website
