ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s skipper Babar Azam won the toss and invited England to bat first in the 2nd contest of the four-match T20I series being played at Birmingham on Saturday. For Pakistan, Haris Rauf is back in the squad, whereas for England Jofra Archer is part of the final 11, after almost 12 months of interval while recovering from injury.
Earlier last Wednesday, the first match of the series was washed out by rain and bad weather at Headingley, Leeds.
After playing four T20 matches both would depart for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 in the West Indies and USA.
Being the finalist of the last ICC T20 World Cup 2022, the T20 series would be of huge significance for both teams. In the last T20I final played at the MCG England outclassed Pakistan by five wickets in the sizzling encounter where Sam Curran played a crucial part and remained player of the final for his figures of three for 12.
Pakistan’s Strength
Pakistan’s side would try its best to play tremendous cricket and set the stage for the upcoming mega ICC event. Mohammad Rizwan, Fakhar Zaman, Shaheen Shah Afridi and the skipper Babar Azam are in good form after the side beat Ireland by 2-1 in a recent T20 series. Meanwhile, Babar Azam (3955) is just a few runs short of Virat Kohli (4037) and Rohit Sharma (3974) to become the leading run-scorer in T20 which is expected he would surpass in the series against England. In addition, Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf are also back on the squad.
Talking to the media the other day, Babar Azam who is also the most successful captain in T20Is with 46 wins said that he was confident that Pakistan would continue the winning momentum against England, from the Ireland series.
Azam further said the team had productive training sessions at Headingley and with head coach Gary Kirsten linking up with the squad adding that they were focused on fine-tuning their strategies and combinations for the four T20Is against England and the upcoming ICCT20 World Cup.
England Strength
While comparing both sides’ previous record in the T20I rivalry, England dominated Pakistan with 19 wins against nine with two games ending as a no-result. England also remained the winners of the previous bilateral series against Pakistan and is the defending champion of the ICC T20 World Cup while beating Pakistan.
Pakistan Squad
1 Babar Azam (capt), 2 Saim Ayub, 3 Mohammad Rizwan (wk), 4 Fakhar Zaman, 5 Shadab Khan, 6 Azam Khan, 7 Iftikhar Ahmed, 8 Imad Wasim, 9 Shaheen Shah Afridi, 10 Haris Rauf, 11 Mohammad Amir
England Squad
1 Jos Buttler (capt/wk), 2 Phil Salt, 3 Will Jacks, 4 Jonny Bairstow, 5 Harry Brook, 6 Moeen Ali, 7 Liam Livingstone, 8 Chris Jordan, 9 Jofra Archer, 10 Adil Rashid, 11 Reece Topley
Pakistan Tour of England
May 22: First T20I at Leeds
May 25 (today): Second T20I at Birmingham
May 28: Third T20I at Cardiff
May 30: Fourth T20I at The Oval
Pakistan’s Initial Games in T20 World Cup 2024
June 6: Pakistan vs USA, Dallas
June 9: Pakistan vs India, New York
June 11: Pakistan vs Canada, New York
June 16: Pakistan vs Ireland, Lauderhill
