Australia chose to bowl v Pakistan

Australia captain Aaron Finch asked Pakistan to bat on what looked like a lively surface at Perth Stadium. Finch said he wanted his bowlers to use the moisture he saw in the pitch.

The hosts included Sean Abbott for his first international in five years, and also recalled Billy Stanlake at the expense of Adam Zampa in expectation of a bouncy pitch. Pat Cummins also lost out.

Pakistan selected two debutants among the four changes they made, with middle-order batsman Khushdil Shah and 19-year-old quick Muhammad Musa coming into the team, alongside Mohammad Hasnain and Imam-ul-Haq. They left out the experienced players Fakhar Zaman, Asif Ali, Wahab Riaz and Mohammad Irfan.

A victory for Australia will cut Pakistan's lead at the top of the ICC T20I rankings table to a single point. Australia currently lead the three-match series 1-0 after the rain-affected first T20I.

Australia: 1 David Warner, 2 Aaron Finch (capt), 3 Steven Smith, 4 Ben McDermott, 5 Ashton Turner, 6 Alex Carey (wk), 7 Ashton Agar, 8 Sean Abbott, 9 Mitchell Starc, 10 Kane Richardson, 11 Billy Stanlake

Pakistan: 1 Imam-ul-Haq, 2 Babar Azam (capt), 3 Mohammad Rizwan (wk), 4 Haris Sohail, 5 Iftikhar Ahmed, 6 Khushdil Shah, 7 Imad Wasim, 8 Shadab Khan, 9 Mohammad Amir, 10 Mohammad Hasnain, 11 Muhammad Musa