LAHORE: Babar Azam-led squad would be hoping to continue the winning momentum from the Test series when they take on South Africa in the first T20 at the Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium today.

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The Green Shirts will also aim to collect the four available T20I ranking points ahead of T20 World Cup.
Pakistan are presently ranked fourth on the ICC T20I Rankings Table with 259 points, nine points behind India (268), while South Africa are fifth on 252 points.
If Pakistan sweeps the series, they will rise to 263 points, five points behind India, while South Africa will join New Zealand on 247 points but will be ranked below New Zealand on sixth points when the points are calculated beyond the decimal point.
What will Pakistan do?
For Pakistan too, there will be some notable omissions. Mohammad Hafeez has been left out, so has been Shadab Khan, who captained the side in the T20Is against New Zealand. They have four uncapped options available – left-arm spinner Zafar Gohar, all-rounder Danish Aziz, leg-spinner Zahid Mehmood and bowling all-rounder Amad Butt.
They will also be boosted by the presence of Hasan Ali, who was recalled for the T20Is. Hasan was brilliant in the Test series, picking up a 10-wicket haul in the second match.
Pakistan are expecting the same performance that the team showed in Test series.
Talking to media earlier, Pakistan’s bowling coach Waqar Younis said, “the result of the Test series will have an impact on the T20I series. I can’t predict the ultimate result of the T20 series, but you will definitely see good results.”
Options for South Africa
The visitors will be without most of their regular players with wicketkeeper-batsman Heinrich Klaasen leading the side. Only four players from the Test squad will be featuring in the T20I one. They have three uncapped players on their list – fast bowler Okuhle Cele, wicketkeeper-batsman Ryan Rickelton and batsman Jacques Snyman.
The series provides them a good opportunity to build a solid bench keeping the T20 World Cup in mind.
However, the skipper is confident that they are in a good position to give tough time to the home time and rubbished the perception about being “a second-string T20 squad”.
“We are looking to win. South Africa has got loads of talent, which people sometimes don’t see because we only have six franchises,” Heinrich Klassen said.
Records
The last time, Pakistan played South Africa in a bilateral T20I series was back in 2018/19. It was South Africa’s home series and they won it 2-1. But with a depleted side this time around, the visitors will face a tough task against a strong Pakistan outfit.
Also, South Africa have won only two of their last nine T20Is. In contrast, Pakistan, who have a better record, winning seven out of their last 10 completed T20Is.
Full Squad
Heinrich Klaasen (C), Nandre Burger, Okuhle Cele, Junior Dala, Bjorn Fortuin, Reeza Hendricks, George Linde, Janneman Malan, David Miller, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Ryan Rickleton, Tabraiz Shamsi, Lutho Sipamla, Jon-Jon Smuts, Pite van Biljon, Glenton Stuurman, Jacques Snyman
Forms in the last 3 matches (Oldest to latest): Lost, Lost and Lost
Pakistan Full Squad
Babar Azam (C), Aamer Yamin, Amad Butt, Asif Ali, Danish Aziz, Faheem Ashraf, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Hussain Talat, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Shaheen Afridi, Usman Qadir, Zafar Gohar, Zahid Mehmood

India vs Asutralia 3rd Test Match start palying today  but india facing Injuries concern of players in top class clash between india and australia at Sydney. India have good news as rohit is playing 3rd test math from india after recover from injury.
Currently, the four-match Test series, which is also part of the opening part of the ICC World Test Championship, is tied at 1-1.
The Test series began with the Day / Night Pink Ball Test in Adelaide, where hosts Australia won by 8 wickets. After this humiliating defeat, the visitors made a spectacular comeback in the final match of the game in Melbourne. At the end of the Test, India had won by 8 wickets at the end of this year as the audience dominated most of the time.
Winning the Sydney Test will help the team gain an undisputed lead in this Test series. Therefore, both the teams will do their best to claim a significant victory in this upcoming Test.

Match Details:

Match: 3rd Test Match: India vs Australia
Time: 09:30 AM (IST), 04:00 AM (GMT), 02:30 PM (Local)
Date: Thursday 6th January 2021
Venue: Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney

Probable Playing XI:

Australia: Will Pucovski, David Warner, Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Travis Head/ Mathew Wade, Cameron Green. Tim Paine(C/WK), Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, and Josh Hazlewood.
India: Shubman Gill, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant(WK), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, and Navdeep Saini/ T Natarajan.

AUS vs IND Test Head-to-Head Encounters:

India and Australia play each other almost 100matches in which, Australia holds a 43/29 Win/Loss record over India.
Total Matches played – 100

• IND Won: 29
• AUS Won: 43
• Tied: 01
• No Result: 27

In the last Test, the hosts Australia suffered their first home Test defeat since the beginning of 2019. Despite leading this series by 1-0, Tim Paine-led Australian team couldn’t handle the visiting team, who haven’t the full strength.
Australia have the big batting concern as Steven Smith is facing a dull run with the bat in Test cricket. In the four innings of this Test series, Smith scored 1, 1*, 0 and 8. Though Marnus Labuschagne is the most run-scorer for Australia in this Test series (129 runs in 4 innings), he has failed to convert his good starts to the big scores. In this Test series, he has scored 47, 6, 48 and 28.
While captain Tim Paine and Joe Burns scored half-centuries in the first Test, none of the Australian batsmen managed to score a fifty in the last Test.
Though Australian pacers have impressed in the first Test, they struggled to make continuous pressure in the Melbourne Test.
Opening batsman David Warner’s return will surely boost the Australian side but the Aussie batting have to improve quickly.
Despite the absence of skipper Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and the right-arm pacer Mohammed Shami, Ajinkya Rahane-led Indian team showed strong character in the last game to claim a 8-wicket series-levelling victory.
While Rohit Sharma is returning to the national side from the upcoming third Test, who will also play the vice captain role of the Test side, the right-arm fast bowler Umesh Yadav and KL Rahul have also ruled out from this Test series due to their respective injury.
So, the right-arm pacer Jasprit Bumrah and off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin will have to play bigger and crucial roles in the remaining Tests. While Mohammed Siraj already impressed on his Test debut in the last game, the team will now have better expectation from him. Also, Navdeep Saini is going to make Test debut as the team management has better faith on him.
Rohit Sharma is ready to replace the Test opener Mayank Agarwal. Meanwhile, Shubman Gill also impressed in the last game, which was also his first Test match.
As the Indian team is unsettled, maintaining consistency is the biggest challenge for this side. In batting, Cheteshwar Pujara and stand-in captain Ajinkya Rahane will have to take major responsibility.