Australian Men’s Cricket Team vs Pakistan National Cricket Team Match: Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat in the second T20I against Australia at Gaddafi Stadium on Saturday, January 31, 2026. The hosts will look to seal the three-match series at home after winning the first game, while Australia aims to bounce back and stay alive in the series.
Pakistan captain Salman Agha said conditions are expected to slow down later in the match and that the pitch could turn in the second innings. He confirmed three changes to the playing XI, with Faheem Ashraf, Naseem Shah and Usman Tariq coming in for rested players Fakhar Zaman, Shaheen Afridi and Salman Mirza.
“We want to bat first. It's looking like another slow and I think it's going to turn. That's what I think it's going to turn in the second inning more. So we just wanted to put up an above par score and try to restrict them. I'm going to bat 3. (On Babar Azam and Fakhar Azam batting in the middle order) I think they're experienced enough and they know how it takes to bat on these numbers. And I'm very confident they will be able to do that. We've got three changes. Fakhar, Shaheen and Salman Mirza are not playing, they're resting. And Faheem, Naseem and Usman Tariq are playing. These kind of pitches we're going to get when we go to Sri Lanka. And that's what we're making here and hopefully we can have a lot of practice here and then when we go there we don't really have a problem with that,” he said after winning the toss as quoted by Cricbuzz.
Australia captain Mitchell Marsh highlighted the importance of the series ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup 2026 in Sri Lanka and India. “This series in isolation is really important to win for a lot of reasons. But we've still got to come here to win this series, so today's a big game for us. Yeah, we thought that the wicket probably slowed up a little bit. There was also a little bit of dew at the back end, which will hopefully help us tonight. But it'll be another great challenge for us today,” Marsh said.
PAK vs AUS, 2nd T20I Playing XIs
Australia (Playing XI): Matthew Short, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh(c), Cameron Green, Josh Inglis(w), Matt Renshaw, Cooper Connolly, Xavier Bartlett, Sean Abbott, Matthew Kuhnemann, Adam Zampa
Pakistan (Playing XI): Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Salman Agha(c), Babar Azam, Usman Khan(w), Mohammad Nawaz, Shadab Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Abrar Ahmed, Naseem Shah, Usman Tariq
