Australia win toss, bowl in Sydney T20I

Australia have won the toss and elected to bowl in the opening Gillette Series T20 International against Pakistan in Sydney.

Captain Aaron Finch named an unchanged side from the one that wrapped up a comprehensive three-nil series win over Sri Lanka in Melbourne on Friday night, with Ben McDermott retaining his middle-order place in the absence of Glenn Maxwell, who has taken some time out of the game for mental health reasons. 

Australia XI: Aaron Finch (c), David Warner, Steve Smith, Ben McDermott, Ashton Turner, Alex Carey, Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Kane Richardson, Adam Zampa.

Pakistan XI: Babar Azam (c), Fakhar Zaman, Haris Sohail, Mohammad Rizwan, Asif Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Wahab Riaz, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Irfan 

Pakistan began their tour of Australia with a six-wicket T20 win against a Cricket Australia XI in Bankstown, and captain Babar Azam is confident his side has the game plan to stop Australia opener David Warner, who was brilliant in his side's clean sweep of Sri Lanka, posting scores of 100no, 60no and 57no.

"We've got a plan ready for David Warner," Babar said with the aid of an interpreter.

"He's one of Australia's really good batsmen. We have our frontline bowlers, we have a strategy ready for David.

"Obviously, once he gets going, he gets going but we have a strategy in place for all facets."

Warner's tally of 217 runs against Sri Lanka was the most by an Australian in a three-match T20 series, and trails only Colin Munro's 224 as the most ever in a three-match series, and more than double the amount of runs he scored during his lean Ashes campaign in England.

But despite Warner's struggles against the Dukes ball and paceman Stuart Broad from round the wicket, Australia T20 captain Aaron Finch had no doubt the seasoned opener would be picked and perform in the limited-overs outfit.

"There was definitely no issue for me, he's the first picked in any T20 side," Finch said in Sydney on Saturday.

"You look at the way that when he gets runs, he wins games for his team – whether it's Australia, Hyderabad (in the Indian Premier League), wherever he plays, when he performs the teams win and that's such a huge asset.

"His World Cup was outstanding, his one-day cricket for a lot of years has been extraordinary so there was definitely no reservations going into this series or the summer altogether.

"He's a world-class player and will get the job done more often than not."

While Warner hammered a Sri Lanka attack that captured just six wickets in the three-match series, he will now come up against the threatening left-arm Pakistan pace trio of Mohamad Amir, Mohammad Irfan and Wahab Riaz.

Amir, who announced his retirement from Test cricket in July, has taken Warner's wicket twice in five T20 internationals and complements the rapid pace of veteran Wahab and the towering 216cm tall Irfan.

In addition to the pace threat, Pakistan also boast two of the top four ranked T20 bowlers in left-arm spinner Imad Wasim (No.2) and leg-spinner Shadab Khan (No.4).

"They've got such a well-rounded attack," Finch said. "You've obviously got the height, bounce and pace of Irfan.

"Then you've got Amir who is fast and can swing it. Very skilful.

"Then you have (Wahab) Riaz with all out pace, who can spray them around at times but when he gets his line and length right, he's lethal.

"Then you have Shadab (Khan) who is a world-class leg-spinner who can mix it up a lot.

"(Right-armer Mohammad) Hasnain is genuine pace with his right-armers, we saw him in the UAE earlier this year. He's got some real pace.

"It's an attack that you don't get any respite.

"But they are going to give you scoring opportunities and you're going to chase them.

"It's a T20 game at the end of the day. It's about those first six overs being really important to setting up the game."

Gillette T20 INTLs v Pakistan

Pakistan squad: Babar Azam (c), Asif Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Sohail, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Imam-ul-Haq, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Irfan, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Musa Khan, Shadab Khan, Usman Qadir.

November 3: First T20I, SCG, 2.30pm (Fox & Kayo)

November 5: Second T20I, Manuka Oval, 7.10pm (Fox & Kayo)

November 8: Third T20I, Perth Stadium, 4.30pm (Fox & Kayo)