England conclude the first part of their historic tour of Pakistan on Sunday when the two sides meet for a seventh time in the T20 format. This concluding game in Lahore is a series decider which is a perfect way to finish a good two weeks of cricket.
This series has gone one way and then the other so it is probably fitting that both teams begin the decider with three wins each. This should be an ideal way for both sides to prepare for the T20 World Cup later this month.
Pakistan
After building up a head of steam with wins in the fourth and fifth matches, Pakistan let all the air out of their balloon in the previous game when they were taken to the cleaners. Given what had gone before in the series it looked like Pakistan had put a decent score on the board, which in itself was a little bit of a surprise, but as it turned out they were miles short of what was needed which might put a bit of pressure on them here.
The one thing Pakistan did get out of the previous match is that the depth in their squad might be better on paper than in action. That might be harsh on those coming in but leaving Mohammad Rizwan and Haris Rauf out opened up two huge holes in the side. The positive was that they did put up a score without Rizwan but the downside to that was that it was Babar Azam who did the majority of the scoring. Pakistan can’t seem to get anything going outside of their opening pair.
England
Given that they had lost the two matches prior to the last one and messed up favourable looking run chases in both of them, to demolish the Pakistan score in the way they did in game six deserves a lot of plaudits. It can be said that the Pakistan attack was the weakest it looked all series but it wasn’t terrible, however it was made to look inadequate by two brilliant innings from the batters, knocks which will give England a lot of confidence.
Prior to that innings it was the middle order that had done most of the scoring in the series so for their openers to bat like that was very encouraging. England bowled well in the main in that previous game and you would imagine their attack for this deciding game will be as strong as it has been at any stage in the series. The only negative for England is their death bowling which can still go round the park but with a stronger attack out here they might be able to take more wickets to help with that.
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Team News
Pakistan are likely to bring Mohammad Rizwan and Haris Rauf back for this deciding match but they are likely to be without Haider Ali who ended up in hospital after the last game. Khushdil Shah is the obvious replacement for him.
England are expected to play their strongest bowling unit which means that Mark Wood and Chris Woakes are likely to get another game. Jordan Cox and Tom Helm will have to wait for future series to make their debuts.
Betting
I think we’ve seen throughout the series that England are the better team of these two. They haven’t always shown it with the bat but the fact their openers caught fire in the previous game tells me that if they get into a situation of a favourable run chase again then they will get the job done. I’ve mentioned throughout this series how reliant Pakistan are on their opening pair and if one or both of those were to fail in a pressure situation England would have more than half of the job done.
I expect England to win here. Whenever Mark Wood has played in this series they have dominated with the ball. They won the third match with him in the side and they should have won the fifth game too but for a poor run chase. He has three wickets in both matches so he should be able to keep Pakistan in check and with all of the top six for England having got good runs on the tour that can be the difference in this decider.
Tips
Back England to beat Pakistan for a 3/10 stake at 1.73 with BetVictor
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