Australia bring in Connolly for Sangha and bat in decider

The toss was postponed by 15 minutes due to a heavy shower, exactly an hour before the scheduled toss

Ahsan Iftikhar Nagi

Published: Jun 4, 2026, 11:51 AM (3 hrs ago)

Toss Australia chose to bat vs Pakistan

Australia won the toss and elected to bat in the third ODI, which will decide the series, against Pakistan at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. The toss was postponed by 15 minutes due to a heavy shower, exactly an hour before the scheduled toss.

Australia made one change to their side, bringing in Cooper Connolly in place of Tanveer Sangha, while Pakistan went unchanged. Though this match was being played on a fresh pitch, both the captains expected it to continue to favour spinners.

"It will be similar to last night and we had a good total," Josh Inglis said, referring to the last game when Australia's 231 proved to be too much for Pakistan. Shaheen Shah Afridi, meanwhile, said that his bowlers will look to restrict Australia to under 200. They had limited Australia to exactly 200 in the first ODI in Rawalpindi and went on to chase that total comfortably with five wickets in hand.

The weather was relatively pleasant in Lahore - as compared to Tuesday when the second ODI was played - with strong wind blowing across the ground.

Pakistan: 1 Sahibzada Farhan, 2 Maaz Sadaqat, 3 Babar Azam, 4 Ghazi Ghori (wk), 5 Salman Ali Agha, 6 Abdul Samad, 7 Shadab Khan, 8 Arafat Minhas, 9 Shaheen Shah Afridi (capt), 10 Haris Rauf, 11 Abrar Ahmed

Australia: 1 Matt Short, 2 Josh Inglis (capt & wk), 3 Marnus Labuschagne, 4 Alex Carey, 5 Cameron Green, 6 Matt Renshaw, 7 Cooper Connolly, 8 Oliver Peake, 9 Matt Kuhnemann, 10 Nathan Ellis, 11 Adam Zampa

Ahsan Iftikhar Nagi is a cricket journalist based in Lahore

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