Even Babar Azam’s career best knock of 158 and a total in excess of 300 runs wasn’t enough for Pakistan to register their first win in ODI.(More Cricket News)
Pakistan were whitewashed 3-0 by a second string England side chosen barely 24 hours before the start of the series after COVID-19 cases sent the first choice team into quarantine.
With T20 series commencing Friday, England are back to their full strength meaning the task of finding a way to register their first win on this series became tad more difficult for Azam led Pakistan.
Chastened, criticised and found wanting in all three departments of batting, bowling and fielding, Pakistan will have to find courage.
Eoin Morgan is back at helm for England with Ben Stokes given rest before tough Test series against India. Pakistan’s tormentor in chief pacer Saqib Mahmood has earned a call up to T20 side as well along with Lewis Gregory. Mahmood was named player of the series.
Beleaguered Pakistan head coach Misbah ul Haq on Wednesday admitted that the 0-3 thrashing at the hands of a back-up England team in the ODIs has unsettled the team and left him "very worried". Misbah also defended the performance of his team insisting this same outfit had done well in recent series. Pakistan's Hasan Ali rested for first T20I against England.
Head-to-Head: England-Pakistan have played 18 T20 matches of which one was tied, while one ended up with no result. England have won 11 matches to Pakistan’s 5.
Full Schedule
~ England vs Pakistan, 1st T20I, July 16, Trent Bridge, Nottingham; 11:00 PM IST
~ England vs Pakistan – 2nd T20I, July 18, Emerald Headingley, Leeds; 7:00 PM IST
~ England vs Pakistan 3rd T20I, – July 20th, Emirates Old Trafford, Manchester; 11:00 PM IST
Match and telecast details
Match: 1st T20I match between England and Pakistan
Date: July 16 (Friday), 2021
Time: 11:00 PM IST
Venue: Trent Bridge, Nottingham
TV Channels: Sony Sports Network in India; Ten Sports in Pakistan; Sky Sports in UK; ESPN, Willow TV in USA; SuperSport in South Africa
Live Streaming: SonyLIV
Likely XIs:
England: Eoin Morgan (c), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler, Lewis Gregory, Chris Jordan, Saqib Mahmood, Dawid Malan, Matt Parkinson, Moeen Ali, Jason Roy
Pakistan: Babar Azam (c), Shadab Khan (vc), Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sharjeel Khan, Usman Qadir, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Hasnain, Azam Khan
Full Squads:
England: Eoin Morgan (c), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Jake Ball, Tom Banton, Jos Buttler, Tom Curran, Lewis Gregory, Chris Jordan, Liam Livingstone, Saqib Mahmood, Dawid Malan, Matt Parkinson, Adil Rashid, Jason Roy, David Willey.
Pakistan: Babar Azam (c), Shadab Khan (vice-captain), Arshad Iqbal, Azam Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sharjeel Khan and Usman Qadir.
