England make a historic return to Pakistan over the next couple of weeks for a ridiculous seven T20 internationals which get underway in Karachi on Tuesday as both teams look to continue their prep for the T20 World Cup.
These two sides were the beaten semi-finalists at the last World Cup in the UAE last year and they will each have their eye on going two steps further when they get to Australia for the next tournament next month.
Pakistan
Pakistan have been a very active unit in recent times. We have seen them in a number of series, the most recent of which was the Asia Cup where they delivered a rollercoaster of a campaign but it was one which ended in disappointment and raised a few questions. They started that tournament in indifferent form but looked like they were coming good the longer it went on, only to have their wings clipped in the final by Sri Lanka.
One area of concern which came out of that tournament was that their opening pair were very sedate and it cost them in a couple of matches. Fakhar Zaman came out of the tournament injured and he is going to miss the World Cup so Pakistan will need to blood a new number three which isn’t ideal. One positive though is that even without Shaheen Afridi the Pakistan bowlers bowled well in the main when the dewy conditions allowed them to.
England
You get the impression this is a big series for England. It is a series which was always going to get a lot of attention when it happened as England have already pulled out of it once and it is the first time they have been back to Pakistan since international cricket returned to this part of the world. It might get even more profile though because the Jos Buttler reign didn’t start in great fashion during the home summer so it needs igniting, although Buttler won’t be on the field in this match.
England will be fine with the bat you would think, although one or two are looking to prove themselves in the team with injuries opening up a spot or two which might bring some pressure, but both in this series and in the World Cup next month any success England do or do not have will be determined by how well they go with the ball. That has been a weakness of England in white ball cricket for a while but they have a bunch of games to work on skills and finding a combination for the death part of the innings.
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Team News
Shan Masood is expected to make a T20 international debut for the home side but they might be saving Mohammad Rizwan until later in the series. Mohammad Haris will get the chance to keep wicket should Rizwan not play.
England are expected to recall Alex Hales from his international exile while Will Jacks is likely to get the spot vacated by the injured Jonny Bairstow. Chris Woakes, Mark Wood and Jos Buttler are on the tour but not expected to play until later in the series.
Betting
We’ve seen in previous matches at this ground that the wicket here is usually pretty good for batting and the boundaries aren’t the biggest. I’m certainly expecting a good wicket for batting here because this is a huge tour for the people in this part of the world and a full house is expected in the ground so it would be so counterproductive if the match is played on a rubbish pitch, especially when you consider this is the first of four matches on this square this week.
That makes me think we’re going to get a whole bunch of sixes in this match. We know England hit sixes by the bucket load but concede them equally as quickly and to be fair Pakistan went for a few during the recent Asia Cup. Clearly dew is going to be an issue with this match a full night match and that isn’t going to help the bowlers. There is more than enough in the six hitting department to get more than 12.5 balls over the rope in this one so on what should be a perfect batting track I’ll take the over in sixes here.
Tips
Back Over 12.5 sixes for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Coral
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