Pakistan's captain Waqar Younis is struggling to overcome a hamstring injury before the third and deciding one-day international against Australia at the Gabba in Brisbane on Wednesday (June 19). Waqar admitted that he had only an "80 per cent" chance of playing alongside Wasim Akram, who will equal Indian Mohammad Azharuddin's world record of 334 one-day international appearances. Wasim set Pakistan on the path to victory with two early wickets in Melbourne last Saturday, as the tourists won to level the series.

Waqar, Wasim and Shoaib Akhtar will enjoy the extra bounce in the Brisbane wicket, and Ricky Ponting admitted the Australian batsmen will need to be on their guard. "The strength of their side is their bowling and they can be very, very dangerous," Ponting said, adding that Australia will shelve their rotation policy and use their best 11 players in the decider. "We're going to go in there and give it our best shot of winning, so we probably will pick what we think is our best team."

Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne are certain to start, leaving Brett Lee, Jason Gillespie and Andrew Bichel competing for the final two specialist bowling spots. Bichel's knowledge of the Gabba will count in his favour while Gillespie was rested from last Saturday's two-wicket defeat and is in line for a recall.

Jimmy Maher could be the batting casualty, as his Queensland team-mate Matthew Hayden has returned to the squad after missing Saturday's match to be with his wife Kellie for the birth of their first child.

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd