The Australian cricket team arrived in Lahore on Wednesday for its T20I tour of Pakistan ahead of the ICC Men’s T20I World Cup in February.

This is the third time Australia are touring Pakistan; they played a three-match Test and an ODI series in March-April 2022, followed by a solitary T20I where they bagged a close three-wicket win at Gaddafi Stadium.

Australia also played three of their 2025 Champions Trophy matches in Pakistan.

All three matches are scheduled to take place at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium on January 29, 31 and February 1, PCB said in a statement.

Addressing a press conference in Lahore on Wednesday, Australian captain Mitchell Marsh praised Pakistan’s team and said Australia was excited about the challenge of playing them on home soil in preparation for the World Cup.

“Pakistan’s got a great history of fast bowlers, so no doubt that we’re looking forward to that challenge,” Marsh said in response to a question. “Especially Shaheen: he’s an amazing bowler and it’s going to be a great challenge for our group.”

Marsh added that some of the Australian team members would meet them in Sri Lanka, as the tour was “really important for our World Cup preparations”.

“We’ve got some guys that weren’t quite ready to be here,” he said. “But they’re back home training and preparing to meet us in Sri Lanka, so absolutely no stress there from our end.”

The five senior Australian players being rested during the series are Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Glenn Maxwell, as well as Tim David and Nathan Ellis.

Answering a question about Pakistan’s Babar Azam, Marsh said, “Babar’s been a world-class player for a long period of time for Pakistan. So we have great respect for him. And we know that in these conditions he’s one of the best players in the world still, so we look forward to that challenge.”

About the Pakistani team as a whole, Marsh added, “We have great respect for them and we look forward to the challenge of playing them here … we’re just really excited about the opportunity.”

Salman Ali Agha, meanwhile, dismissed the view of teams as being “big or small” while speaking to the media.

“If you’re playing internationally, no team can be easy … any team that comes to us, we don’t look at whether they’re the number one team or lower-ranked than us; we look at how we can improve our cricket and what plan we can execute.”

He stressed the importance of the games, saying, “There are some boxes that need to be ticked — this is one of those series where, we will tick all boxes”.

Agha said that an effort had been made to prepare the same kind of pitches that would be expected in Sri Lanka.

In response to a question, he challenged the notion that the absence of senior Australian players was a “golden opportunity” for Pakistan.

“Whoever comes from the Australian team, their mentality is such that they’re all good players and they think about dominating the game,” he said.

“So you can’t say that because three or four of their main players haven’t come, this is a golden opportunity.”

Pakistan squad: Salman Ali Agha (captain), Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Khawaja Mohammad Nafay (wk), Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Salman Mirza, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Naseem Shah, Sahibzada Farhan (wk), Saim Ayub, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shadab Khan, Usman Khan (wk) and Usman Tariq

Australia squad: Mitchell Marsh (c), Sean Abbott, Xavier Bartlett, Mahli Beardman, Cooper Connolly, Ben Dwarshuis, Jack Edwards, Cameron Green, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Matthew Kuhnemann, Mitch Owen, Josh Philippe, Matthew Renshaw, Matthew Short, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa