Haris hopes Pakistan take advantage of series against England

KARACHI: Pakistan middle-order batsman Haris Sohail has said it was important for his team to focus on getting used to conditions during the five ODIs against England ahead of the World Cup.

Pakistan have advantage over other visiting teams as they will be facing hosts England, the No1 team on the ICC Men’s ODI Team Rankings, in an ODI series before the World Cup begins on May 30.

With a Twenty20 International and the World Cup warm-up matches to follow, Pakistan will have played several matches before the World Cup starts. “The World Cup is still a little while away,” said Sohail. “Before that, we have a very important series against England. England have a quality side, the No.1 team. We’ll get a great help in getting used to the conditions there. So we’re hopeful of getting acclimatised and producing good results at the World Cup,” he told reporters in Lahore on Monday.

Sohail is enjoying great form and will hope to take that into the showpiece event. He goes into the England series on the back of two centuries against Australia in the UAE. “During the past few days, I wasn’t feeling too good, but a match situation is different, and the [practice] match we played today, the ball felt great on the bat,” the middle order batsman said. Despite Haris scoring 291 runs at 72.75, Pakistan lost the series 0-5.