Australia vs. Pakistan - Day 4 at 20th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup – Preview
Australia is all set to face Pakistan today during the fourth day of the 20th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup on Monday, May 9 at the Sultan Azlan Shah Stadium in Ipoh, Malaysia.
Australian team
The Kookaburras are the World’s Number one ranked hockey team of the year. They are the first hockey team to set a record of sealing three top ranked hockey titles of 2010 namely the World Cup, Champions Trophy and Commonwealth Games. However, they missed
winning in the last year’s Sultan Azlan Shah Cup, finishing at the third position after a victorious play-off against Malaysia at 5-3.
Despite missing hockey gem Jamie Dwyer from their team, the Australians look confident in taking this year’s title home.
Few other senior players were also unable to show their presence in this Malaysian Invitational this year including Luke Doerner, Eddie Ockenden, Rob Hammond and Mark Knowles as they are currently engaged in the Hockey League of the Netherlands.
Moreover, few players were left out of the squad for not being fit for their appearance in this tournament, namely Joel Carroll, Kieran Govers, Des Abbott and Graeme Begbie.
Currently, the Kookaburras hold a record of five Azlan Shah gold medal wins for 1983, 1998, 2004, 2005 and 2007 and one silver win in year 2006.
Pakistan Team
This year, the squad will be led by a new leader Muhammad Imran, who was the vice captain during the 2010 Asian Games victory, as the last captain Zeeshan Ashraf refused to be a part of the seven-nations tournament. This step had been taken with the intention
to allow the young players to step-up in the squad.
The team had an impressive start by winning the first two matches played against New Zealand and Korea, both concluding at 4-2. However, the third match was a heart-breaking finish as they were defeated by Great Britain 3-2.
This eighth ranked team has a record of eight wins in the Asian Games, including last year. Moreover, the Azlan Shah record shows the team won the gold three times in 1999, 2000 and 2003. Pakistan ended up in the finals as runners-up in 1983, 1987, 1991,
1994 and 2004.
The team will need to break the boundaries of excellence to win against Australia.
Players to watch
From the Australian team, Jacob Whetton will be the main player to watch. He played his international debut at the Ipoh ground and managed to score his career’s first goal in his second international cap against Pakistan.
On the other hand, Pakistan strength for the day will be the world-record holder penalty specialist Sohail Abbas, who has the ability to pressurise the Australian team with his excellent penalty corner executions.
Head-to-Head Statistics
The last three encounters between the two nations ended favourable for the Australian side with a 3-1 victory in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, a head-to-head 2-1 win in the 2010 World Cup and a very close 1-0 win in the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
Pakistan failed to over-power the Kookaburras in the previous face-offs, however they seem to be a much stronger team in this tournament and have some positive winning momentum which could provide for a surprising win over the top-ranked team.
Prediction
Australia will try to dominate the Pakistan team, but the match has a 50-50 chance for both the teams to win.
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