 England's
tour of UAE continues to spring up surprises as Pakistan, after whitewashing England
in the test matches, are two matches down in the ODI series. The expected tale
of test matches is happening in ODIs and vice versa. Pakistan will look to keep
the series alive when they enter field for the third ODI on Saturday.
Click for Live Score Card of Pakistan Vs England
After a comprehensive defeat in the first match, Pakistan fought harder
in the second match, but still fell short by 20 runs. Their batting continues
to be fragile while bowling - their much relied-upon medium - has also looked
off color. The captain and coach have also avoided facing the media, with Mohammad
Hafeez present at the post-match press conference.
The batsmen have plenty of questions to answer, as six of the seven batsmen
got themselves in before getting out without making a big score. Imran Farhat
and Misbah ul Haq, the top scorers, will look to do better than their efforts
on Tuesday, in spite of being joint-highest run scorers. Farhat was one of the
many wickets to fall as a result of reckless batting. Misbah, on the other hand,
failed to accelerate as wickets tumbled at the other end.
England see themselves in an unusually calm position with an unbeatable lead.
Captain Alastair Cook has led from the front with back-to-back centuries,
while Steven Finn has caused problems with the ball with two four-wicket
hauls. Ravi Bopara's presence in the middle order is another plus, having scored
half-centuries in both matches as well. Overall, the team heads into the match
confident and yet wary of a Pakistan backlash at the same time. The management
is not expected to ring any changes to the winning line-up.
The match will be played at the Dubai International Stadium. Pakistan have won
and lost four matches each at the ground. Their last match, against Sri Lanka,
ended in a 21-run win for Pakistan.
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