MM News

KARACHI: Pakistan is set to take on England in the second T20I at the National Stadium, Karachi today (Thursday). England leads the seven-match series 0-1.

The T20I will start at 7:30pm PST this evening.

Since the England team is visiting Pakistan for the first time in 17 years, the seven-match Twenty20 International series is a historic occasion for the host.

In the opening game, the visitors defeated Pakistan by six wickets. Muhammad Rizwan, a wicketkeeper-batsman, pleaded with cricket fans to overlook the errors and the defeat while the team experimented with fresh lineups.

In his post-match interview with the media, he stated that mistakes would undoubtedly be made, but the squad was making improvements to better capitalize on them for the forthcoming T29 World Cup, which will begin in Australia next month.

England’s victory raised fresh questions over the vulnerability of Pakistan’s middle-order as it caved in despite getting a blistering start from the openers and Babar was brutal in his assessment of what his side needed to do going ahead in the series which serves as a warm-up for next month’s T20 World Cup.

Pakistan captain Babar Azam asked his batters to step up.

“The way we played the first Powerplay was great,” Babar added “After 10 overs, there was a swing of momentum, which you have to credit England for. We didn’t have enough big partnerships.”

Pakistan (probable): 1 Babar Azam (capt), 2 Mohammad Rizwan/Mohammad Haris (wk), 3 Haider Ali, 4 Shan Masood, 5 Iftikhar Ahmed, 6 Khushdil Shah/Asif Ali, 7 Shadab Khan, 8 Shahnawaz Dahani/Mohammad Hasnain, 9 Naseem Shah, 10 Haris Rauf, 11 Usman Qadir

England: 1 Phil Salt (wk), 2 Alex Hales, 3 Dawid Malan, 4 Ben Duckett/Will Jacks, 5 Harry Brook, 6 Moeen Ali (capt), 7 Sam Curran, 8 David Willey, 9 Adil Rashid, 10 Luke Wood, 11 Olly Stone