Tuesday 06 / May / 2025
Manchester: After rain forced the first T20I of the series to be abandoned, England and Pakistan prepare for another stop-start affair in Manchester on Sunday.
The weather remains in focus in Manchester with the forecast showing humidity above 60% for Sunday. Nine venues that hosted a T20 game in England on Thursday and Friday, including T20 Blast matches, saw washed out affairs.
England are unlikely to make many changes. One option they have is to bring in David Willey, who was effective in the limited-overs series against Ireland with the new ball. Willey is also an effective batsman against spin and pace and could be handy if the middle order has a collapse, as on Friday.
With Jason Roy out of the series, Tom Banton grabbed his chance and could once again be a key player for England. Dawid Malan, who has made double digit scores in each of his 11 T20I games, will likely continue at No.3.
For the first game, Pakistan left out Haider Ali, who impressed in the Pakistan Super League earlier this year. The youngster is likely to be sidelined again as the team did not bat on Friday.
Wahab Riaz, who missed out, is the only one with a chance to come in on Sunday. He might replace one of Mohammad Amir or Haris Rauf, with Shaheen Shah Afridi impressing yet again with the new ball.
Remember the last time
Pakistan looked a far cry from the side that was at the top of the MRF Tyres ICC T20I Team Rankings until a few months ago, when 21-year-old Banton went on the attack. However, they went on to reaffirm their bowling efficiency, reducing England to 131/6 before rain intervened.
Overall, England maintain a 10-4 win-loss record against Pakistan in T20Is, with one match tied.
Tom Banton, England opener: "When the white-ball side is at full strength I'm probably not going to break into it. I am just going to keep trying to score runs and put other guys under pressure and we'll see how it goes from there. I don't want to look too far ahead as there is a lot of cricket to be played. It's one innings, I could go duck, duck the next two."
Babar Azam, Pakistan captain: "There is Shoaib, there is Hafeez. And then if you look at the bowling, there is Shaheen Shah and Wahab Riaz. There is Mohammad Amir and Haris Rauf. There is a good mix of seniors and juniors. So I'm hopeful that we can win the series."
