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
Medvedev to face Griekspoor in bid for second Dubai title
- Former world No. 1 Medvedev demolished top seed Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada in the semifinal
- Despite an injury, unseeded Dutchman Griekspoor beat 5th-seed Andrey Rublev in the other semifinal
DUBAI: Daniil Medvedev reached the Dubai Tennis Championships final on Friday and will face unseeded Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor as the Russian attempts to achieve something that has eluded him throughout his stellar career — winning the same tournament twice.
Former world number one Medvedev demolished top seed Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-4 6-2 in an 83-minute semifinal, setting up a title clash that could see him claim a second Dubai crown to go with his 2023 triumph.
Medvedev, who has won 22 titles at 22 different tournaments, arrived in Dubai with a point to prove after early exits in Rotterdam and Doha.
However, the third seed has been in scintillating form in Dubai, dispatching Shang Juncheng, Stan Wawrinka, Jenson Brooksby and Auger-Aliassime — all in straight sets.
“It has been an amazing four matches, probably playing better and better each match, today being the best performance,” said Medvedev.
“If I can put in an even better performance tomorrow, I will have my chances to win and that is what I am going to try to do.”
Griekspoor battles injury to beat Rublev
Standing in his way will be Griekspoor, who continued his giant-killing run by beating fifth seed Andrey Rublev 7-5 7-6(6) in the other semifinal.
The Dutchman denied the 2022 champion, who also finished runner-up the following year, another shot at the Dubai trophy, saving two set points in the second-set tiebreak.
“No idea how I pulled off this one, I could barely walk at the end of the first set,” said Griekspoor, who took a medical timeout for treatment in the opening set.
“He served extremely well. I got very lucky in the tiebreak to win it in two sets ... I landed with a serve and felt something in my hamstring.
“If he had won the tiebreak, I don’t know if I would have continued.”
It marked three consecutive top-20 wins for Griekspoor for the first time in his career after he beat second seed Alexander Bublik and Jakub Mensik en route to the final.
Griekspoor, who has won three ATP 250 titles in his career, will be looking to add a first ATP 500 trophy to his collection when he faces Medvedev.
