Alex Carey's spot is no certainty moving forward, although he is tipped to play in Hobart.
Back-up wicket-keeper Josh Inglis has travelled with the Australians to Hobart and the pressure is now firmly on Carey, who has had an underwhelming first summer as part of the Test team.
While his batting at number seven has come under the microscope, it hasn't been properly challenged given the ease and dominance Australia have ran through the summer with.
They have beaten England heavily in every component of the game, only failing to hit 400 in one Test - a match they still managed to win at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on the back of Scott Boland's miraculous bowling figures.
But Carey is averaging just 15 with the bat and dropped a pair of regulation catches at the Sydney Cricket Ground, causing eyebrows to be raised.
Speaking on the Follow-On Podcast, journalist Robert Craddock said he believes Carey is now under the pump from Inglis, with the pair not having much between them in the race to replace former captain Tim Paine at the start of the series.
“He (Carey) will play in Hobart and then Josh Inglis goes to Pakistan with him and is very much part of the equation,” Craddock said.
“He would not want to start badly in Pakistan… I have been surprised about his batting, which I rated so highly. He hasn’t really clicked. They will stick with him in Pakistan. The threat from Inglis is ever-present. They really like Inglis but he may need to bake in the oven a little more.”
Inglis travelling to Pakistan would be unsurprising, although Australia are slated to be playing limited overs cricket at the same time, with the keeping duties there likely to be contested by Josh Philippe and Matthew Wade.
