It seems that the embarrassing whitewash at the hands of Australia was not enough for Pakistan, which now risks crashing out of World Cup, if it didnt win against the Aussies in the 50 overs format.
Pakistan is in serious danger of failing to qualify directly for the International Cricket Council's (ICC) World Cup 2019 to be held in the United Kingdom as it currently sits on eighth position in the ODI Team Rankings. Pakistan at the moment has 89 points two less than Bangladesh and two ahead of the West Indies, said an ICC press release.
However, in order to get the direct qualification for the WC 2019, the former world champion needs to win one match of the series in order to maintain its position, while if they are able to win the series, the tourists would move ahead of Bangladesh and into seventh place.
"We're not far from the cut-off date so we want to stay in the top eight," Pakistan ODI skipper Azhar Ali said, reported cricket.com.au.
"Obviously this is a big challenge and we all know that, but it's an opportunity for us to express ourselves and a good result would be great for our ranking When you play in Australia and you do well, it will be wonderful for the confidence of our team."
However, considering stats Pakistan shares a very poor record against Australia, which leads 33-16 on a head-to-head in its backyard, including 15 wins in 19 ODIs this decade.
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