LAHORE: Australian captain Mitchell Marsh and his Pakistan counterpart Salman Ali Agha on Wednesday termed their three-match T20 International series extremely significant with the World Cup just over a week away.

“I am very excited to be here in Pakistan, as this series is really important for our T20 World Cup preparations,” Marsh said during a news conference at the Gaddafi Stadium where all matches of the T20 series will be held.

“We have got some guys who were not ready to be here but they have returned home and training to meet us in Sri Lanka [for the World Cup].”

The matches will be staged on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. The T20 World Cup is scheduled to be held from Feb 7 to March 8 in India and Sri Lanka.

Salman, in his presser, said the series against Australia would help Pakistan assess themselves for the mega event.

“This series is very important for our clarity on [finalising] our first playing XI through before the World Cup. Moreover, we will assess if we have ticked all the boxes,” the skipper stated.

The visiting Australians are without the injured quartet of Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Tim David and Nathan Ellis while all-rounder Glenn Maxwell was rested to manage workload. All of them are included in the World Cup squad.

Answering a question, Salman emphasised that despite missing some key players Australia remained strong contenders.

“Australian have always been tough no matter which players they are fielding because they always try to dominate. So you can’t say that it is a golden opportunity [for Pakistan] to win the series just because three or four of their main players are not in the team,” the Pakistan skipper insisted.

“But yes it [absence of key Australian players] is an opportunity, only if we perform to our best potential.”

Besides Marsh, the Australian squad contains experienced campaigners like Adam Zampa, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Cameron Green, Mathew Short, Sean Abbott, Jack Edwards and Marcus Stoinis.

On whether the visiting cricketers, coming from Australian summer, would be able to adjust quickly to cold weather conditions in Lahore, Marsh said they would be ready for the job.

“Yes I must admit that I did not pack too many jumpers. I was not aware that Pakistan got this cold. But I think one of the things about our group and most international teams now is that preparations can look different for every tour, so we will be ready come tomorrow,” the Australian captain said.

According to Marsh, pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi and batter Babar Azam would be a challenge for his team in the series.

“Pakistan have had a great history of fast bowlers throughout. So no doubt we are looking forward to that challenge, especially obviously Shaheen who is an amazing bowler,” the 34-year-old stated.

“Babar has been a world-class player for a long period of time. So we have great respect for him and we know that in these conditions he is one of the best players in the world.”

Replying to a question regarding the playing XI for the series opener, Mitchell said that they would make the call later on.

When asked about the visitors’ strategy to tackle Pakistan’s spin attack, the Australian skipper said that clarity in planning was important.

“I think the main thing [for us] is to get really clear with our planning and thinking of how we are going to attack their spinners,” he said. “[For this] we will assess the conditions, hopefully as quickly as possible, tomorrow to see what the wicket does. We see this challenge as a great preparation [opportunity] for what we are potentially going to face in Sri Lanka [in the World Cup].”

Lauding aggressive opener Travis Head, Marsh said: “He is an amazing cricketer. [We are] very fortunate to have him in our team and that’s for sure and as you said he is a proven big match performer, so hopefully if we get to the point end of the tournament he will be right there for us.”

Interestingly, when asked about Babar’s poor run of form at the Big Bash League, Salman explicitly mentioned that he expected no query about the former Pakistan skipper would be raised at the presser.

“I always desired for a press conference in which I am not asked a question about Babar,” Salman said.

“Babar is playing his role very well in the Pakistan team and this matters most for me; whereas what happened in the Big Bash does not matter.

“I want to address a press conference in which no question about Babar’s performance will be asked. There are 11 or 14 players in the team. You should think also about them. Let Babar do his batting, he is doing good, though he could not perform in the Big Bash but for us he is giving good performances and playing his role in the right way,” Salman added.

When it was highlighted that Pakistan could not win T20 matches against stronger opponents, Salman reckoned there was no weak or strong team in the shortest format.

Published in Dawn, January 29th, 2026