England and Pakistan will conclude the final game of the T20I series in Manchester. England bounced back after losing the opening game and it’s a decider game now.
Match Timings: July 20, 11 PM IST
Team Preview
England and Pakistan reach Manchester to play a decider game of the T20I series. After losing the ODI series 3-0, Pakistan would look to end the tour with a T20I series win. It will boost their morale ahead of the WI series. Pakistan were clinically good in the field but they delivered the same mistakes in the second game. They proved one more time that Pakistan’s batting relies on Babar and Rizwan. If the duo does batter, Pakistan performs and if they fail, they let down the batting unit. Pakistan bowled very well in the second phase of the innings but a good cameo from Moeen Ali did a good job for England. Pakistan struggled in the chase and after a promising start in the powerplay, they failed to capitalise. Dependency on Babar and Rizwan may hurt Pakistan and we saw outcomes in the past.
Pakistan missed one good spinner and they might consider Usman Qadir in the playing XI. They also have to solve their middle-order issues. After losing to New Zealand in T20s, Pakistan beat South Africa twice in the T20s but also suffered a loss against Zimbabwe in a 2-1 victory. In 2021, we saw how Babar and Rizwan carried Pakistan’s batting on their shoulders. Lack of consistency in middle-order will hurt them in World Cup as well. Sarfaraz should also get a game if they want to boost their middle-order.
Meanwhile, England finds momentum in a must-win game and Buttler led the side in a winning cause. It was his third win as the skipper in five games. England spinners made headlines and put pressure while defending 200. England would look to end the white-ball home season-high as they haven’t lost a bilateral series in the white-ball format so far in the home season. England recently beat Sri Lanka in both formats and also overcame Pakistan in the ODI series. The hosts have lost just one game this home season which is magnificent. If we talk about their past success in T20 format then England’s last T20I series loss came in 2018 against India. They beat Australia and played a draw with Pakistan in 2020, followed by a clean-sweep against South Africa. They lost to India this year 3-2 in away T20I series. They are favourites now but toss will play a major role.
Pitch Report
Manchester’s surface is good for batting and batsmen can get lot of runs here. It’s a surface of 170-180 and spinners might be handy in middle-overs. Chasing will be the best call after winning the toss.
Possible XI
England
Jason Roy, Jos Buttler (c & wk), Dawid Malan, Moeen Ali, Liam Livingstone, Jonny Bairstow, Tom Curran, Chris Jordan, Adil Rashid, Saqib Mahmood, Matthew Parkinson
Pakistan
Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Babar Azam (c), Sohaib Maqsood, Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Hafeez, Azam Khan, Imad Wasim, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Hasnain
Key Players
England
Jos Buttler
A destructive player at the top, scored 59 in last game as skipper
Livingstone
Hundred in first game and 38 in last game, a crucial player in middle-order
Pakistan
Babar Azam
Coming off an impressive form, scored 85 in first T20I followed by a hundred in ODI
Mohammed Rizwan
Top-form in T20s and scored a half-century in opening T20I
