Pakistan v England – 3rd T20I – Toss Report
After a gruelling one and a half months of cricket, England’s tour of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is at its end with the third and final T20I match against Pakistan at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi.
The English Twenty20 skipper, Stuart Broad, after winning the toss has decided to bat first. For the third time in the series, England has won the toss and their plan is simple, post a decent total on the board so that their bowlers can exploit Pakistan’s weak batting.
The balance of power in this series has been shifting; however, it is all to play for in this game as it is winner takes all contest.
Both sides are unchanged from the previous games. Speaking about the pitch and his sides’ chances at the toss, Broad said, “The wicket looks a bit dry and we batted well in the previous game. This pitch will play slightly different to the Dubai pitch. The guys performed well in the previous match in the field. We would like to finish the series on a high.”
So far in the T20I series, side that has batted first has won, therefore the odds are in stacked favour of England. However, to Pakistan’s advantage this is the first match at Abu Dhabi, first two games were played in Dubai.
Misbah-ul-Haq, Pakistan skipper remained positive despite losing the toss. The leader of the Green Shirts wants to give the interim coach, Mohsin Hasan Khan, a perfect send off gift by winning the game for him.
He said, “I would have batted first. We had chased down a target in the previous T20I against Sri Lanka at this venue. We are going with an unchanged side. Hafeez is a very good player and he was a key performer last year in the T20s and ODIs. He needs to get us off to a start. We want to win this match for Mohsin and we need to get our confidence back.”
Pakistan (Playing XI): Mohammad Hafeez, Awais Zia, Asad Shafiq, Umar Akmal(w), Misbah-ul-Haq(c), Shoaib Malik, Shahid Afridi, Hammad Azam, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Aizaz Cheema
England (Playing XI): Kevin Pietersen, Craig Kieswetter(w), Ravi Bopara, Eoin Morgan, Jonathan Bairstow, Jos Buttler, Stuart Broad(c), Samit Patel, Graeme Swann, Jade Dernbach, Steven Finn