TheSportsCampus

England’s Tour of the UAE so far has been an extremely competitive and fascinating one with Pakistan coming out on top comprehensively in the test series while England made a significant jump in their One day rankings by emphatically winning the one day series. The two teams will now battle it out for supremacy in the game’s shortest format, a 3 match T20 series, the first of which starts off in Dubai on Thursday.

(Click here for the Match Report)

While England have the momentum in their favour having won the recently concluded ODI series 4-0, Pakistan have always been a force to reckon with in this format with their ability to surprise the opposition by producing a carefree brand of cricket that ideally suits T20 cricket. Though both teams are well versed with the format and are both ex-world champions, they will need to battle mental and physical fatigue heading towards the fag end of what has been a pretty intense tour. This series will be an important one for both sides nevertheless, with it being their last shot at getting their combinations ahead of the T20 World Cup in Sri Lanka in September.

Pakistan

Pakistan will be desperate to fight back after the 4-0 drubbing they took at the hands of England. While there is no doubt that they have the ammunition to do it, they will need to find some consistency in all 3 departments of their game to upstage this efficient English unit. With the fast paced nature of this format, Pakistan’s power hitters will be crucial to their chances. The likes of Shahid Afridi, Umar Akmal and Mohammed Hafeez are all capable of using the long handle effectively while the calming influence in the middle overs will be provided by their captain and mainstay Misbah-ul-Haq along with one of Asad Shafiq or Shoaib Malik. They are likely to try out one of either Hammad Azam or Awais Zia, who are specifically suited to this format at the top of the order. There is also a chance that both the youngsters may be given an opportunity considering the fatigue factor in the side.

Pakistan’s bowling will bear a familiar look as the crux of the bowling unit is the same for the T20 internationals as well. Umar Gul will lead the pace brigade while one among Aizaz Cheema, Wahab RIaz and Junaid Khan will partner him. Wahab Riaz has been ignored oflate by captain Misbah, but his wicket taking ability and his ability to hit the block hole at pace at the death could give him the edge over the others. It will be interesting to see though whether Pakistan will go spin heavy with Abdur Rehman due to his containing skills or will they strengthen either the pace department or the batting owing to their liability with both those facets in the one day series.

England:

The England team looked a very well rounded outfit against Pakistan in the one dayers with the likes of Samit Patel, Stuart Broad, Tim Bresnan and Graeme Swann offering tremendous balance to this side with their all-round skills. One would expect all four of them to feature in the T20s too due to their ability to use the long handle effectively at the death. The batting unit may see a couple of rookies like Jos Butler, Johnny Bairstow and Alex Hales getting a game with a view of experimenting ahead of the World T20 later this year. Alastair Cook is not a natural choice in this format, but his form in the one-dayers means that he would probably retain his place. It will be interesting to see how England choose to line-up in game 1 with Alex Hales and Craig Kieswetter also opening options. Kevin Pietersen’s success at the top of the order though might mean that England opt for stability, especially early on in the series.

Jimmy Anderson, who rested in the final one day match might continue to sit out, while England’s skipper for this format, Stuart Broad will ofcourse return to the starting eleven. Greame Swann too is all set to return in place of impressive left arm spinner Danny Briggs for the start of this series, with Briggs perhaps getting a game later on.

Recent Form:

England: W L W
29th Oct 2011: Beat India by 6 wickets
25th Sep 2011: Lost to West Indies by 26 runs
23rd Sep 2011: Beat West Indies by 10 wickets

Pakistan W W W
29th Nov 2011: Beat Bangladesh by 50 runs
25th Nov 2011: Beat Sri Lanka by 5 wickets
18th Sept 2011: Beat Zimbabwe by 5 runs

Likely XIs

England: Alastair Cook, Kevin Pietersen, Eoin Morgan, C Keiswetter, J Buttler, J Bairstow, S Patel, S Broad, T Bresnan, G Swann, S Finn

Pakistan: M Hafeez, H Azam/ I Farhat, A Shafiq, Misbah Ul Haq, U Akmal, S Malik/ A Zia, S Afridi, U Gul, A Rehman, S Ajmal, W Riaz/ A Cheema

Pitch and conditions: Going by what we saw in the one day series, this pitch at the Dubai international stadium could be another insipid one which could yield big scores in this format.

Match Prediction: England will carry the momentum from the one day series forward and upstage Pakistan in the first match.

File Photograph Copyright: ICC World T20