Summary Pakistan will take on England in the third ODI in Sharjah today (Tuesday).
SHARJAH (Dunya News/Agencies) – The third One Day International (ODI) of the four-match series between Pakistan and England will be played at the Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium today (Tuesday). The match will start at 4:00pm (PST).
After outplaying England in the first ODI for a convincing six-wicket victory in Abu Dhabi, a batting fiasco two days later at the same venue meant the hosts Pakistan threw away their 1-0 lead after folding for a meagre 188 in the chase of 284.
Pakistan will miss the services of Yasir Shah, the highest wicket-taker in the preceding Test series, after the leg-spinner picked up a knee injury during the practice session on the eve of the game. Pakistan can bring in uncapped left-arm spinner Zafar Gohar, who is also a useful batsman, to replace Yasir Shah.
Pakistan s head coach, Waqar Younis, has already sounded a word of caution to his team ahead of the crucial tie. "We need to play well to make it 2-1", Waqar said, admitting that their complacency costed them the precious series lead. "England bounced back and bounced back well. We probably were not thinking that they are going to play that well and now we have to play out of our skins to make it 2-1."
The visitors, meanwhile, would be banking on their batting to go 2-1 ahead at Sharjah. The English team management would have heaved a sigh of relief with Alex Hales match-winning 109 in Abu Dhabi. Jason Roy, the opener and Joe Root, the No. 3 bat, couldn t have timed their half-centuries better after being dismissed for ducks in the series opener.
The four-match series is currently tied at 1-1 with the fourth and final match slated to be played in Dubai on November 20.
Teams:
Pakistan (probable): 1 Azhar Ali (capt), 2 Ahmed Shehzad, 3 Mohammad Hafeez, 4 Iftikhar Ahmed, 5 Shoaib Malik, 6 Babar Azam, 7 Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), 8 Anwar Ali, 9 Wahab Riaz, 10 Zafar Gohar, 11 Mohammad Irfan.
England (probable): 1 Jason Roy, 2 Alex Hales, 3 Joe Root, 4 Eoin Morgan (capt), 5 James Taylor, 6 Jos Buttler, 7 Moeen Ali, 8 Chris Woakes, 9 Adil Rashid, 10 David Willey, 11 Reece Topley.
