Summary The first Twenty20 between Pakistan and England will be played today in Dubai.
DUBAI (Dunya News/Agencies) - The first Twenty20 International of the three-match series between Pakistan and England will be played at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium today (Thursday). The match will start at 9:00pm (PST).
The Twenty20 international (T20I) series between the two nations looks a promising affair after emphatically winning the Test series 2-0 Pakistan were out-batted and fielded in the ODIs by England who won the series 3-1.
These are important times for the international sides in the shorter format with a chance to experiment with just over three months to go until the World Twenty20 in March in India.
Pakistan finished runners-up in the first edition of the World Twenty20 in 2007 before winning the crown two years later in England and are now ranked No 2 in the game, six places above this week s opponents.
They need to win the series, at least by a 2-1 margin, to maintain their standings - a fact Afridi believes will spur on his team.
"We want to settle down before the World Twenty20," said Afridi.
"Besides that we are ranked number two so it s an important series for us in many ways and we will do our best to win it."
Pakistan are likely to get two to three Twenty20 matches if their series against India is held next month, before they head to New Zealand for another three matches. They will also feature in the Asia Cup to be held in Bangladesh in February.
Besides Ajmal, the highest wicket-taker in all Twenty20 cricket with 85, paceman Umar Gul (joint second highest with 83 wickets) was also not selected as he is recovering from injury, while opening batsman Mohammad Hafeez is banned from bowling.
England, who won the World Twenty20 in 2010, are ranked eighth in T20 but coach Trevor Bayliss believes their 3-1 one-day success over Pakistan last week will give the squad a big boost.
"England players should have a lot of confidence from the way they ve played going into the three T20 matches, knowing they can play in these conditions against this quality of opposition," said Bayliss whose team lost the Test series 2-0.
