Mohammad Hafeez won the toss and sent Australia in to bat in the first Twenty20 international in Dubai.

Pakistan named two debutants in their side, the opening batsman Nasir Jamshed and the left-arm spinner Raza Hasan, while Umar Gul was also back in the team having been left out of the one-day internationals. Imran Nazir was also included for his first match for Pakistan in two and a half years.

The allrounder Glenn Maxwell, who made a promising start to his international career during Australia's 2-1 win in the ODIs, was named to make his T20 international debut. The 41-year-old spinner Brad Hogg was not included and Australia's spin duties were largely to be handled by Xavier Doherty.

Pat Cummins and Ben Hilfenhaus were the only specialist fast bowlers in a line-up heavy on the batsmen, with Shane Watson also back after missing the ODIs. The former captain Cameron White was also included and could bat as low as No.8, and might be called on for some overs of legspin.

Pakistan 1 Mohammad Hafeez (capt), 2 Nasir Jamshed, 3 Umar Akmal, 4 Imran Nazir, 5 Shoaib Malik, 6 Kamran Akmal (wk), 7 Abdul Razzaq, 8 Sohail Tanvir, 9 Raza Hasan, 10 Umar Gul, 11 Saeed Ajmal.

Australia 1 Shane Watson, 2 David Warner, 3 Matthew Wade (wk), 4 Michael Hussey, 5 David Hussey, 6 George Bailey (capt), 7 Glenn Maxwell, 8 Cameron White, 9 Ben Hilfenhaus, 10 Pat Cummins, 11 Xavier Doherty.