First T20 Live: Pakistan elect to bat first against Scotland

By Web Desk
June 12, 2018

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EDINBURGH: Pakistan captain Sarfaraz Ahmed won the toll and elected to bat first against Scotland in the first Twenty20 International at Edinburgh on Tuesday.

Sarfraz said at the toss he chose to bat first because it may wear down as a result.

Hamza Tahir, the younger cousin of Scotland's most capped player Majid Haq, has been handed a T20I debut.

The match is scheduled to begin at 8:00pm. Geo Super will broadcast the match live.

Ramiz Raja tells Geo that Pakistan should set a good target to challenge Scotland on their home soil. "Scotland is an emerging team and they play freely and attack the opposition. It has the ability to create problems for Pakistan," he said.

"We have a number of good all-rounders. We can put good runs on the board," he said.

The former captain said that spinners would get some help from the wicket. "Fielding will be key for Pakistan as well as Scotland," he added.

Scotland are heading into the match with a historic six-run win over England.

Pakistan will look to end the tour on a high after win over Ireland and drawn Test series against England.

Sarfaraz eleven will be hoping to consolidate their top position on the ICC T20 ranking with a 2-o victory against the hosts.

The squad wears a very different look to the one that played the Tests, with Ahmed Shehzad in there as well as the very experienced Shoaib Malik and the rookie Shaheen Afridi, among others.

With Shehzad, Fakhar Zaman, Malik, Haris Sohail, Hussain Talat and Sarfraz Ahmed, the captain, in as frontline batting options, there is a strong line-up there.

The green shirts have replaced Babar Azam with Haris Sohail. Azam had suffered an arm injury during the Test series at Lord’s.

Squads

Pakistan XI: Fakhar Zaman, Ahmed Shehzad, Hussain Talat, Shoaib Malik, Sarfraz Ahmed (c) (wk), Asif Ali, Faheem Ashraf, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Amir, Hasan Ali.

Scotland XI: KJ Coetzer, HG Munsey, RD Berrington, CS MacLeod, DE Budge, MA Leask, MH Cross (wk), SM Sharif, MRJ Watt, AC Evans, Hamza Tahir.


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