PALLEKELE, Sri Lanka: Pakistan won the toss against England and elected to bat first in the Twenty20 World Cup Super Eights game on Tuesday.
“It looks like a good pitch. We want to put up an above-par score and defend that,” Pakistan captain Salman Ali Agha said.
England started the second round with a resounding 51-run win over co-host Sri Lanka at the same venue last Sunday while Pakistan’s opening game against New Zealand was washed out in Colombo.
England have a lot of knowledge about the conditions in Pallekele, where they have won all four T20s over the last few weeks, including a 3-0 series win against Sri Lanka before the tournament.
Pakistan batters have been struggling in the tournament and, except for opener Sahibzada Farhan, the World Cup leading run-scorer with 220, no one else has scored more than 100 runs.
Pakistan left out allrounder Faheem Ashraf and brought back fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi while mystery spinner Usman Tariq was preferred over leg-spinner Abrar Ahmed.
England captain Harry Brook hoped the “fresh pitch” would play better for chasing.
England named the same XI for the fifth match in a row in the tournament, staying faithful to struggling opener Jos Buttler.
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Lineups:
Pakistan: Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha (captain), Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Shadab Khan, Usman Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Shaheen Afridi, Salman Mirza, Usman Tariq.
England: Phil Salt, Jos Buttler, Jacob Bethell, Tom Banton, Harry Brook (captain), Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Liam Dawson, Jamie Overton, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid.
Pakistan opt to bat first against England at T20 World Cup
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Pakistan opt to bat first against England at T20 World Cup
- “It looks like a good pitch. We want to put up an above-par score and defend that,” Ali Agha said
- England have a lot of knowledge about the conditions in Pallekele
Auger-Aliassime, Medvedev march on in Dubai
- Auger-Aliassime overcame the big-serving Frenchman thanks to an impressive break-point conversion rate
- In a battle of former Grand Slam winners, Russia’s Medvedev beat Wawrinka 6-2, 6-3
DUBAI: Felix Auger-Aliassime stamped his ticket to the quarter-finals of the Dubai Open on Wednesday with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, while Daniil Medvedev put an end to Stan Wawrinka’s tournament.
Canadian top seed Auger-Aliassime overcame the big-serving Frenchman thanks to an impressive break-point conversion rate as he managed to make the most of three of the five that he forced on Mpetshi Perricard’s serve.
Consecutive breaks in the seventh and ninth games of the opening set allowed the world number eight to seize the initiative.
Auger-Aliassime pounced again early in the second set to get his nose in front and then managed to serve out to book a meeting with Jiri Lehecka in the last eight.
The Czech eliminated Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta 7-6 (8/6), 6-4 to progress through the round of 16.
In a battle of former Grand Slam winners, Russia’s Medvedev beat Wawrinka 6-2, 6-3.
The 40-year-old Swiss will retire at the end of the season and was honored on-court after his defeat.
“It’s my last time here, but I always had amazing support from you guys,” 2016 champion Wawrinka told the crowd.
“It’s always special. The reason why I kept playing for so long is because of those emotions that I receive on court, but I think at 40 it’s time to play for one last year. I’m enjoying it a lot.”
Third seed Medvedev will face Jenson Brooksby in the next round, after the American defeated seventh-seeded Russian Karen Khachanov in straight sets.
Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan was beaten by Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) as the second seed fell to just his fourth defeat of the season.
World number 25 Griekspoor will next face Jakub Mensik after the Czech sixth seed eased past Alexei Popyrin for the loss of just five games.
Doha semifinalist Andrey Rublev continued a fine Middle East swing by battling through 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3 against France’s Ugo Humbert.
Later on Wednesday, the 18th-ranked Russian will discover his last-eight opponent when fourth seed Jack Draper meets Arthur Rinderknech.
