Welcome to live coverage of the first Twenty 20 between Pakistan and England, the first match England have played in Pakistan since winning the fifth ODI in December 2005 by virtue of James Anderson’s four for 48. Today, they will be led by Moeen Ali in his fifth match in charge of the side and it is the first of 11 games England will play before their opening T20 World Cup fixture against Afghanistan at Perth’s Optus Stadium on Oct 22.
Harry Brook, Phil Salt and Alex Hales, who are all in the World Cup squad, will be given the opportunity to press their claims for selection for that opening fixture while Olly Stone and Ben Duckett will be given the chance to lay down markers for the future even though they will be going home when Jos Buttler regains his fitness and Ben Stokes and Liam Livingstone take their places.
Hales, returning for the first time since his official ban and unofficial exile were imposed in the spring of 2019, will play in his 61st international T20. It’s more than eight years since he made that 64-ball 116 in the 2014 World T20 in Bangladesh but he made the fifth most runs in the Hundred and in 26 Pakistan Super League innings since 2018, he has 895 runs at an average of 37.29 with a strike rate of 145.05. England will feel Jonny Bairstow’s absence keenly but if Hales can get those long levers in sync on familiar pitches both here and in Australia (following his Big Bash accomplishments), they will have someone who has an even broader range of power-hitting strokes.
Pakistan have won all six T20s played at the National Stadium since the resumption of overseas tours but although the best all-round batsman in world cricket, Babar Azam, plays his domestic home matches in Karachi, there has been mounting criticism following poor returns in the Asia Cup about his strike rate. Indeed Aaqib Javed, head coach of Lahore Qalanders, has been bold enough to publicise that his team’s tactics when playing Karachi Kings is to keep him on strike and try not to dismiss him, “because he plays at his own pace and the required rate keeps increasing”.
Babar gave that short shrift yesterday but it is the first time he has been the butt of something so seemingly disrespectful even if it comes from his franchise’s most ardent rivals. “The main thing is to keep believing in yourself,” he said. “People will talk regardless of how well you do, but it’s best to ignore all that.”
