Pakistan and England will lock horns in the second T20I of the four-match series at Edgbaston Stadium, Birmingham, on Saturday after the first T20I was called off due to rain at Leeds.
The match in Birmingham will start at 2:30pm local time and as per BBC weather forecast, there is no chance of rain on Saturday however the sky will be covered with light clouds and there will be cold and light winds.
This will be nothing more than good news for both sides as they didn’t get a chance to play one another in the first T20I.
As the T20 World Cup 2024 is approaching, both teams have to finalise their combinations because the series is the last outing for both sides and the rain damaging their preparations for the mega event is something no team would want.
In the World Cup, Pakistan will play all of their group matches in the United States while England will travel to the West Indies to compete in their round matches.
Pakistan recently played two T20I series, one against an inexperienced New Zealand side at home while the other was against Ireland in Dublin recently. They were Babar Azam’s first tests after being reappointed as white-ball captain.
The Green Shirts drew the T20I series against New Zealand 2-2 at home as one match was called off due to rain. Meanwhile, they managed to beat Ireland 2-1. However, despite winning the later series, the problems were quite evident for the Men in Green which they have to sort out before the World Cup begins.
On the other hand, England’s last T20 series was against West Indies in January this year which they lost 3-2.
Squads
England: Jos Buttler (c), Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Jonathan Bairstow, Harry Brook, Sam Curran, Ben Duckett, Tom Hartley, Will Jacks, Chris Jordan, Liam Livingstone, Adil Rashid, Phil Salt, Reece Topley, Mark Wood.
Pakistan: Babar Azam (c), Abrar Ahmed, Azam Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Rizwan, Irfan Khan, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Salman Agha, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Afridi, Usman Khan
Schedule of Pakistan’s Tour of England
May 22: First T20I at Leeds (Match called off due to rain)
May 25: Second T20I at Birmingham
May 28: Third T20I at Cardiff
May 30: Fourth T20I at The Oval