Quite expectedly, Pakistan will start as favourites to complete a 3-0 clean sweep against the West Indies their three-Test series in Sharjah on Sunday (today). The hosts hammered in their opponents in the first two Tests in Dubai and Abu Dhabi and shouldn’t find it tough to finish off the contest on a high.

The Pakistanis have been on a roll since their famous victory in the fourth and final Test against England at The Oval in August - a result that helped them draw the series 2-2. Even their limited-over stocks have gone up, having won the last two games in England (the fifth ODI in Cardiff and the one-off T20I in Manchester) and then whitewashing West Indies on both the 50-over and 20-over contests.

Since making the UAE their adopted home, Pakistan have turned venues like Abu Dhabi and Dubai into fortresses where even teams like Australia and England are tamed into submission without much fuss. The three-Test series against the West Indians promised to be a job as comfortable as shooting ducks in a barrel and though the tourists have shown some spine, the overall result has never been in doubt.

But that could all change when the Pakistanis tour the antipodes starting next month. They will play two Tests in New Zealand (in Hamilton and Christchurch) followed by a mouth-watering three-Test series in Australia that will begin with a pink-ball game in Brisbane. While Pakistan have almost always done well in New Zealand, their performance in Australia, especially in the five-day format, has mostly been far from satisfactory.

I was there to cover Pakistan’s last full tour of Australia where Mohammad Yousuf and his men suffered the ignominy of losing each and every match of the sojourn.

This time, however, things could pan out differently.

The current New Zealand team is a hard nut to crack, especially in home conditions. Pakistan, who rose to number one after their exploits in England and remain on the course to regain the pole position, will have to be at their best to overcome Kane Williamson’s New Zealand. The good thing for Pakistan is that their batting line-up, long seen as the team’s Achilles’ heel, has developed some spine. In addition to the old horses - Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq -- batters like Asad Shafiq and Azhar Ali as well as the gutsy Sarfraz Ahmed, down the order, have played a big role in the team’s ascent to the top. The emergence of youngsters Babar Azam and Sami Aslam is also a good sign. If Pakistan can make sure that there won’t be any catastrophic batting collapses then I must say that they will have a good chance of beating the Blackcaps. That’s because Pakistan’s bowling arsenal is looking good. Mohammad Amir doesn’t seem to possess the sort of sting that once made him the most exciting fast bowler in world cricket but he is slowly but surely getting there. I’m sure his performance in New Zealand and Australia is going to be a few notches above what we saw from him in England and the UAE. A fast bowler takes time in regaining his rhythm especially if he is coming back after a long hiatus of five, six years. Amir, too, has struggled but I’m sure we will see the best of him sooner rather than later.

The best part for Pakistan is that they aren’t exactly relying on Amir to give them breakthroughs with the new ball. They have a solid pace battery with the likes of Wahab Riaz, Rahat Ali, Sohail Khan and Imran Khan to choose from. Then, having seen Mohammad Asif exhibiting glimpses of his past brilliance in a domestic match recently, one must say that Pakistan could be faced with the problem of plenty when it comes to pace resources. On top of it we have Yasir Shah, the wily leggie, who should be one of the team’s trump cards when the national team tours Down Under.

Winning the series against New Zealand will be very important for Pakistan as it will set the tone for the more challenging battle against the Aussies.

From where I see it, the Test series against Australia is going to be a perfect opportunity for Pakistan to rewrite history.

Getting underway at the Gabba on December 15, the three-Test contest will pit a rampaging Pakistan against an Australian side that is dogged by a spate of below-par results and reports of dressing-room disharmony.

Pakistan have never beaten the Aussies in a Test series in Australia. But this is going to be their one big chance. The series could be Misbah’s last and there cannot be a more perfect sendoff to their most successful Test captain than a series-winning triumph in Australia.

What the Pakistanis will need most to achieve such a goal is self-belief.

I was in Sydney when it hosted Pakistan’s second Test against Australia in January, 2010. Various people remember that Test differently. Some recall it as one of the great Australian comebacks while others would like to forget it as one of those matches in which Pakistan snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. Some blame Kamran Akmal and his butter fingers for Pakistan’s loss while other are convinced that it was a Test in which the match-fixers had the final say.

For those who might have forgotten some of the details of that Test let me refresh your memory a bit. In a surprising move, Ricky Ponting chose to bat on a greenish wicket in overcast conditions at the SCG. Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Sami ripped through the Australian batting line-up which crumbled for 127. Asif finished with 6-41 while Sami’s figures were 3-27. Fifties from openers Salman Butt and Imran Farhat helped Pakistan to muster 333 which gave them a sizeable lead of 206.

After stumps on day three, Australia were 286-8 with a lead of just 80. Victory seemed like a low-hanging fruit for Pakistan. I met Mohammad Yousuf and Waqar Younis that evening and told them so. To my surprise, neither looked or sounded confident. Their response was: "Let’s wait and see what transpires on the fourth day".

It turned out to be Mike Hussey’s day thanks to Yousuf and Company. Yousuf spread the field, placing eight of his fielders on the boundary when Hussey was on strike. If that wasn’t enough, Kamran Akmal dropped Hussey three times off the bowling of Danish Kaneria. Akmal also missed a straight forward run-out opportunity besides grassing Peter Siddle off Sami. Hussey and Siddle went on to add 123 for the ninth wicket. Aussies took a lead of 175 and eventually won the match by 36 runs after Pakistan were bowled out for 139.

It was a nightmare and the Pakistanis never recovered from it. They went on to lose the final Test in Hobart and then succumbed tamely during the rest of the tour. Pakistan will need to guard themselves from similar episodes if they are to win their first Test series in Australia.