Pakistan have eyes on Cup in Aussie series

Pakistan head coach Mickey Arthur has defended resting eight of the country's first-choice players for the five-match ODI series against Australia declaring it a "series of opportunity" as the hosts fine tune their World Cup preparations.

Arthur said Pakistan had four spots to fill in their 15-man World Cup roster and set a target of at least the semi-finals for Pakistan to reach at the tournament in England in June and July, with Umar Akmal among those vying for a berth.

The changes mean it's hard to pick what sort of XI Pakistan will roll out for tonight's first ODI against the Aussies in Sharjah (from 10pm AEDT), indicating he would be rotating all the players through in various combinations over the course of the five matches.

Pakistan's decision to roll out an under-strength outfit against Australia has drawn criticism with some quarters, but Arthur said it had been long planned and with specific goals in mind.

"This didn't just happen, there was planning that went into this. Sometimes people think it's just ad hoc and we make it up as we go," Arthur bristled to a throng of Pakistan journalists.

"This has been planned so we could test our bench depth, so we could have a look at our final combinations.

"We know who our major players are going to be at the World Cup. We know that. This will sort out the final couple of places.

"This is a series of opportunity. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to work out there's a couple of positions available for the World Cup.

"There's some that are taken, I think there's four we've got available.

"Inzi (chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq) and I have discussed that and it's an opportunity for some to put their hands up and make those places their own."

Australia also have some uncertainty over their side, with Patrick Cummins expected to be rested at some point in the series after playing all five ODI games and both T20s on the successful tour of India.

Glenn Maxwell has been battling illness in the run-up to the first match and his prognosis is also uncertain, and Arthur said he fully expected the Australians to also rotate through their full squad.

"But there's no such thing as a 'weak' Australian team ever," the South Africa-born coach warned.

"But our guys need a rest. We've been in hotel rooms since early September. We'd be stupid to just keep playing our guys.

"If we do they'd run a high risk of injury and they're going to have fatigue.

"We've got a series in England which will be perfect preparation for us going into a World Cup.

"We'd be silly not to use this month to rest our most valuable assets ahead of what is the biggest challenge of them all."

Pakistan ODI squad: Shoaib Malik (captain), Abid Ali, Faheem Ashraf, Haris Sohail, Imad Wasim, Imam-ul-Haq, Junaid Khan, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Saad Ali, Shan Masood, Umar Akmal, Usman Shinwari, Yasir Shah

Qantas Tour of the UAE

First ODI: v Pakistan, March 22 in Sharjah

Second ODI: v Pakistan, March 24 in Sharjah

Third ODI: v Pakistan, March 27 in Abu Dhabi

Fourth ODI: v Pakistan, March 29 in Dubai

Fifth ODI: v Pakistan, March 31 in Dubai

(all matches begin at 10pm AEDT)