Pakistan vs Australia: Is Thursday Pakistan's lucky day against Australia?

Pakistan skipper Babar Azam continues to find the boundaries against Australia's pace attack as Mohammad Rizwan plays cautiously. 

Pakistan and Australia will face each other today (Thursday) in the second semi-final clash in Dubai, with the winner set to take on New Zealand in the final. 

Undefeated Pakistan have been declared by many as favourites to win the clash, owing to their consecutive five victories, aggressive bowlers and consistent batsmen. 

However, Australia have won several ICC tournaments in the past with some of their players peaking at the right stages of this year's T20 World Cup. 

A quick glace at past records tells us that when it comes to Pakistan vs Australia matches, the Aussies have won more matches than Pakistan whenever their clashes take place in November. 

The two times that the two teams played a three-match series was in November 2019, with the Aussies winning the series 2-0, after rain spoiled the first match. 

However, when it comes to T20 matches held between the two sides on Thursdays, Pakistan has fared better than Australia. 

Pakistan and Australia faced off in the UAE on May 7, 2009, when the latter played a home series against the former. That match was played on a Thursday and ended in Pakistan's favour, with the Men in Green winning by 7 wickets. 

The next time the two teams played T20 cricket on a Thursday was on July 5, 2018, and Pakistan once again beat Australia, this time by 45 runs. 

It will be interesting to see which breaks its jinx first, especially given that it is both November and a Thursday. If Pakistan wins, it means November no longer holds a bad omen for them when it comes to facing Australia. 

However, if Australia wins, it means they no longer have to dread facing Pakistan on a Thursday. 

As far as today's clash is concerned, Aaron Finch has won the toss and elected to field first against Pakistan in Dubai. 

Squads

Australia: David Warner, Aaron Finch (capt), Mitchell Marsh, Steve Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade (wk), Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood

Pakistan: Babar Azam (capt), Mohammad Rizwan, Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Asif Ali, Imad Wasim, Shadab Khan, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf