1st T20I England vs Pakistan:
First meeting of the series of three T20I matches between England and Pakistan is going to be played at the Old Trafford, Manchester on August 28th 2020. The teams will play first bilateral T20I series in England, which contains more than two matches.
Pakistan Tour of England History:
This is going to be the eighth bilateral series between the teams. England won the series 4 times, whereas Pakistan won the series twice with one draw.
When touring England by the Pakistan team, the teams’ performances were equal. Out of 4 T20I series, the home side won twice and the same for the visitors.
The teams completed 15 meetings in the shortest format of cricket, till date. Out of them, the host lost just 4 times and won 11 times, one of them resulted in a tie but the host won the match by one over eliminator.
On the soil of England, the teams faced each other 6 times. Out of them, the English team won 4 times, and the Pakistan team won twice.
Victory brings points:
The series is the comparison between the second rank team (England) and forth rank team (Pakistan) team. The host is just 8 points ahead of visitors.
The host has no chance to increase the position for the team, but the team could manage to increase the points through winning the series. Even drawing the series will help the team to stay on the same points, but in case of losing the series, the team will not just lose points but also the position.
On the other hand, the visitors are in a position that the team will stay in the same position with at least one win with series defeat, lose the position in case of series defeat by two-nil or three-nil and improve the position with series win without any loss and at least two wins.
The result of the first match will impact the team’s position, as if the result will go in favor of the host then the team will gain three points and the visitors will lose just a point with no position changes for either team. On the other hand, in case of reverse result, the visitors will gain three points without any impact of position but the host will lose the same points with losing the position with one rank.
Venue Weather:
Weather forecast for Manchester shows the weather would be cloudy throughout the match. Due to the precipitation percentage would be maximum of 25% as of now, the chances of rain would be very less. The temperature would be around 14 Celsius. The wind would be between 10 to 20 kmph throughout the match.
Toss and Pitch:
Teams preferred to field first after winning the toss, which happened 4 times out of 7 matches. The selection favored the teams and the teams never lost, twice won and twice without any result. On the other hand, the team chose to bat first after winning the toss thrice and won the match just once, with twice in losing cause.
Particularly, for England, the team won the toss 5 times out of 7 times, and the teams won twice with one lose and two without any result.
The first batting team won the matches just once. Whereas, the teams, who batted second, won the match 4 times.
The lowest defended total was 191, though the only victory by the team who batted first on the venue. On the other hand, the highest successful chase is 166 on the ground. Interesting to see, if the target will be set in between the scores.
The first inning lowest total was 123 (completed innings) and the highest total was 191 runs. For the second inning, the lowest total was 127 runs (chased down the target), whereas the highest was 169 runs (chased down the target).
The batting average of the first innings is 19.90 and 34.81 is for the second innings.
History Between the Teams:
Both the teams faced each other at the venue just once. Interestingly, the visitors won the contest just four years back only.
T20I History at Venue:
The home side has an above average record at the venue, and won thrice out of 7 encounters and lost twice with two no results matches.
Tentative XI for both the Teams:
England:
The home side could pick pacers and a spinner, as the team have a batting all rounder, who could bowl.
England Eleven: J. Denly, J. Bairstow, D. Malan, E. Morgan, S. Billings, M. Ali, T. Curren, D. Willey, L. Gregory, A. Rashid, C. Jordan
Pakistan:
The visitors would prefer to go with pacers due to the same reason. The team has four spin all rounders.
Pakistan Eleven: F. Zaman, B. Azam, M. Hafeez, S. Malik, I. Ahmed ,M. Rizwan, I. Wasim, S. Khan, W. Riaz, M. Amir, S. Afridi
