Preview: Pakistan are favourites against Australia in shortest version

Image: Michael Clarke will be determined to show that he's not out of his depth in T20

Twenty-over cricket is the one area of the global game where Australia are not dominant. They have yet to reach the final of a World T20 and as men who have ruled the fifty-over game for more than a decade, must be itching to assert their authority on this format of cricket as well.

They had an ignominious time in the warm-ups, losing to minnows Zimbabwe, the same team who they crashed to in the 2007 tournament. The bottom line is that the Australian T20 squad is not the force in yellow we are used to, with Ricky Ponting at the helm. Rather, they are a mix of youth and experience under the captaincy of Michael Clarke and vice leadership of Cameron White. Clarke did not feature in the IPL while White had a quiet tournament, and the two men in charge may be feeling a little out of practice in this format as they enter the third edition of the World T20.

That said, White is a key man for Australia. He marshals the middle order and despite his lack of explosion in the IPL, he can be as destructive as the best in twenty over cricket. In his last international T20, he smashed 64 off 26 balls against New Zealand to help Australia tie the match. (New Zealand went on to win the one over eliminator and draw the two match series 1-all).

Text: Cricbuzz
Images: AP