England and Pakistan travel to Southampton to play the second Test of the series after a thrilling game of cricket at Manchester.
Team Preview
England escaped Manchester after Pakistan’s impactful show on the first two days. After trailing 107 runs behind in the first innings, England bounced back to bowl Pakistan out on 169 to set a total of 277 in 4th innings. Butler (75) and Woakes (84) guided the hosts to a remarkable victory. Ben Stokes will miss the remainder of the series due to the personal issues so Sam Curran can get a node to appear in the XI.
Meanwhile, Pakistan showed in the opening Test, they are more unpredictable than the weather of Manchester. After getting a huge lead in first innings, they failed with the bat and couldn’t defend a strong total of 276 on a challenging track. After picking 5 wickets on 117, visitors gifted the match to Hosts when the two out-of-form players were in middle. Skipper’s form is a serious issue for Pakistan and Babar also needs to carry his innings longer as Masood did in first innings.
Pitch Report
The Rose Bowl will host both remaining contests of the series. Southampton’s weather is cloudy, pure Test conditions. In the last West Indies Test, Pacers had an advantage as the surface has a lot to offer with the new ball. Spinners will be in command, the match progresses on the 2nd and 3rd day. Batting first would be an ideal call after winning the toss as the chasing in 4th innings might be tricky.
Predicted XI
Pakistan
Azhar Ali (C), Babar Azam, Abid Ali, Asad Shafiq, Shan Masood, Faheem Ashraf/Shadab Khan, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Rizwan (WK), Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Yasir Shah
England
Rory Burns, Dominic Sibley, Joe Root (C), Ollie Pope, Jos Buttler (wk), Chris Woakes, Sam Curran, Dominic Bess, Jofra Archer, Stuart Broad, James Anderson
Key Players
Pakistan
Babar Azam
In WTC 2019-21 – M: 6, Runs: 689, Avg: 86.12
In previous Test: 69 & 5
Yasir Shah
In WTC 2019-21 – M: 5, Wickets: 18, Avg: 46.38
In previous Test – 66/4 & 99/4
England
Chris Woakes
In WTC 2019-21 – M: 5, Wickets: 28, Runs: 256
In previous Test – 4 wickets & 84 runs in the 4th innings
Stuart Broad
In home summer 2020 – M: 03, Wickets: 22
In previous Test – 54/3 & 37/3
