Rejuvenated Pakistan, solid England resume rivalry in Lahore

LAHORE: Hosts Pakistan and England will lock horns in the fifth encounter of the seven-match T20 International series here at the Gaddafi Stadium on Wednesday evening.

With the toss happening at 7pm and the first ball to be bowled at 7:30 pm, Pakistan will be looking forward to repeating the brilliance it put on display in the fourth match to earn a close win that leveled the series 2-2.

The way the hosts took away the previous match from the claws of England, they must be full of confidence and the return of Naseem Shah and Shadab Khan will provide a further boost.

Shadab is likely to replace Usman Qadir whereas Naseem will come in for Hasnain.

Though Liam Dawson, Ben Duckett, Harry Brook and Reece Topley put up incredible performances for England, Pakistan’s star batter Mohammad Rizwan has found his mojo and now is the highest scorer in the series.

For England, Harry Brook has been the leading scorer with a strike rate of 174 while Ben Duckett also has a reasonable strike rate of 159.

Adil Rashid has been the best bowler for England so far and has picked up 4 wickets while bowling at an average of 30 and an economy rate of 8.00.

Things might be different at Gaddafi Stadium’s batting friendly wickets and the dew factor will be there for the team bowling second.

The weather remains unpredictable in the city. Tuesday started with clear skies but when both the teams were supposed to practice in the evening, heavens opened and their practice was called off.

However, the weathermen have forecast that during the next 24 hours the skies will be clear with temperature ranging from 25 degree to 30.

Squads:

Pakistan – Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Haider Ali, Shan Masood, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Nawaz, Usman Qadir, Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah, Shahnawaz Dahani, Asif Ali, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Haris, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Abrar Ahmed, Aamer Jamal

England – Alex Hales, Philip Salt (wk), Dawid Malan, Ben Duckett, Harry Brook, Moeen Ali (c), Sam Curran, David Willey, Luke Wood, Adil Rashid, Richard Gleeson, Liam Dawson, Olly Stone, Will Jacks, Jordan Cox, Tom Helm.