England-Pakistan lock horns in the series decider tonight
By our correspondent
LAHORE: A gruelling contest is on the cards as Pakistan meet England in their seventh and final match of the T20I series here at the Gaddafi Stadium tonight. The game begins at 7:30pm under floodlights with the toss to be held at 7pm.
Toss will as usual play a major role as team bowling second faces trouble as the ball does not grip due to dew factor unlike in the Karachi leg matches where dew was not a big factor.
England, while going 3-2 down did a fine comeback when they bulldozed Pakistan by eight wickets in the sixth game at the same venue the other day. Phil Salt was seen in sublime touch as he hammered an unbeaten 88 to guide his side to an eight-wicket victory with 33 balls to spare.
Scoring 80 plus runs in the power-play put Pakistan on the back foot and they never returned to the game with the visitors chasing the target with an enviable ease. England’s approach to go all out in the power-play turned out to be successful and it was also the most productive first six overs score in the series so far.
Pakistan were missing their two frontline players Mohammad Rizwan and Haris Rauf who are expected to be played today as the team needs a series winning triumph at a time when the T20 World Cup is just around the corner.
England may also give a chance to their regular skipper Jos Buttler who is recovering from calf injury after having missed all the previous six matches during the series. Having Shadab Khan already in the squad during the previous game Pakistan are expected to only bring back Rizwan and Haris which will make the side formidable.
A win for either side will help them enter into the World Cup with right momentum. Pakistani bowlers will need to leave an impact today against the formidable English side whose batsmen played some excellent strokes even in their non-preferred zones during the previous game. A few strokes from Dawid Milan were a treat to watch and especially strokes he played towards off-side were excellent.