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ENG vs PAK | 2nd T20I: With Buttler back in Squad, England look to stretch it to the finale

Abhishek Singh

The England team was not in its elements whatsoever during the first T20I against Pakistan at Trent Bridge, Nottingham. Apart from a blizzard or flood (in coherence with conditions prevalent in western Europe) in the form of Liam Livingstone that rocked Pakistan, no other batter was able to stay at the crease and do anything important to propel the three lions towards victory. 

On the other hand, for Pakistan, it was a totally opposite scenario. After being drubbed ion the ODIs 3-0, the Men in Green waled in the T20I series with the definite resolve of improved showing. To everybody’s surprise, they went one notch above and instead of just improving the standards, they rather achieved the best, registering their highest ever total in T20Is. 

Even the Pakistani bowling was better in that small ground and they caught brilliantly too. But there is always a doubt in every Pakistan’s supporter’s mind, can thor team repeat the good work?

Jos Buttler is back: Is it a good thing for England?

But, with Paul Collingwood, England’s Assistant Coach confirming that Jos Buttler has recovered from his calf strain and is ready to take the field in the next game, the interesting thing to notice would be, who goes out? Ideally, it would be Dawid Malana as he was asked to open the innings and Livingstone and Moeen Ali were both asked to bat in the middle.

In this very competitive English limited-overs side, even one mistake could prove dire as far as a place in XI is concerned and Malan, the number one ranked T20I batter might have to bear the price of that one failure. Livingstone’s hundred meant that he would not be going out and captain Morgan publicly announcing that he would keep giving as many chances as possible to Moeen to prove his credentials in the middle order, keeping in mind the spin-friendly conditions of the World Cup, it is very unlikely that he would lose his place in the team. 

Which Pakistan will turn up on Sunday?

The Pakistan team is the most consistent side at being inconsistent. It is a truth that nobody can deny and hence on any given day, even if they had been in their best form in the previous match, one can never say with surety that they will play well in the very next game as well. 

So keeping that in mind, it would be hard to guess if Pakistan would be able to really power up their game and get done with the series even before it stretches to the final game. Both Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwanare in form as is evident through their last two partnerships in the third ODI and the first T20I. 

The Pakistani bowling also seemed to have improved a bit especially the way Mohammad Hasnain bowled. The abilities of Shadab Khan to pick wickets makes it a wholesome attack with the presence of Shahen Afridi and Imad Wasim as left-arm options against a right hand heavy English batting lineup. Will Hasan Ali play in place of Haris Rauf is yet to be seen. 

England vs Pakistan: Match Details

Match Number-  2nd T20I 

Date and Time: July 18, 2021, 07:00 pm IST, 01:30 pm GMT, 02:30 pm Local

Venue: Headingley, Leeds

Broadcast and Live Stream: Sony Sports Network and Sony LIV

Pitch Report

The average score at Headingley in Leeds over the past two years in T20s has been in the range of 170-190 giving a fair idea of why it is going to be a high scoring affair at this ground. The teams batting first agave although won 65% of the games, chasing isn’t a bad option either, especially in a day game. Bowlers, much like in

Weather Forecast and Toss

The weather at Leeds is going to be perfect for cricket on Sunday, July 18 with the temperatures ranging between 26-25 degrees Celcius throughout the game time. There are no predictions of rain and it would rather remain sunny throughout the day. Any captain winning the toss would look to bowl first, except Pakistan. Pakistan aren’t good at chasing and they would like to bat on their strength that is defending the totals. 

Team News

England

The English side is most probably staring down at least three changes with Chris Jordan, Buttler and Adil Rashid coming in places of Saqib Mahmood, Malan and Matt Parkinson respectively. Even Tom Curran could make way for his brother if things permit. 

Probable XI

Jason Roy, Jos Buttler (wk), Jonny Bairstow, Moeen Ali, Liam Livingstone, Eoin Morgan (c), Lewis Gregory, David Willey, Chris Jordan, Adil Rashid, Tom Curran/ Sam Curran

Pakistan

As far as the Pakistan team is concerned, disturbing the winning combination is not something that they would like to do. However, they can afford one change where Haris Rauf goes out and Hasan Ali comes in. 

Probable XI

Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Shoaib Maqsood, Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Hafeez, Azam Khan, Shadab Khan, Imad Wasim, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Hasnain, Haris Rauf/ Hasan Ali

Dream XI team

Jason Roy, Jos Buttler, Jonny Bairstow, Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Shoaib Maqsood,  Liam Livingstone (vc), Shadab Khan, Chris Jordan, Adil Rashid, Shaheen Shah Afridi

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In wake of increasing Covid-19 cases in the cricketing circle, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has told all the players who will be participating in the inaugural edition of The Hundred to avoid exposure to places where chances of contracting the virus are higher, ESPNcricinfo reported. Such places include pubs, shops and restaurants and to ensure all these norms are followed there has been an appointment of a Covid compliance officer for each of the teams participating in the tournament. However, the board is not strict about the biosecure bubble as life at large in England are coming back to normal and ECB’s chief had said that the players must learn to “live with the virus”. The players will be allowed to go back to their homes but players and individuals involved in the tournament have been advised against going to high-risk places. The ECB is not taking any chance to jeopardise the inaugural edition of its flagship event and is desperate to ensure that it goes as planned in wake of rising cases in the country. The ECB suffered a direct impact of Covid-19 after seven members of the senior men ODI side tested positive for the virus and it led to the whole side becoming close contacts and they had to select a completely different side to face Pakistan. Hence, a proactive approach is understandable on the part of the ECB as it has invested a lot of human resources and capital in The Hundred tournament.

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Livingstone credits time with Trescothick, Collingwood in isolation behind Nottingham blitzkrieg

England’s new batting sensation, Liam Livingstone has credited the period of isolation after Covid-19 in England camp, where he got the time to “forget” about cricket and spend some time with Paul Collingwood and Marcus Trescothick behind his remarkable comeback to the cricket field in the first T20 of the series against Pakistan. Livingstone was at the top of his game and smashed a 49-ball hundred against a full-strength Pakistan bowling side at the Trent Bridge in Nottingham. He said that he worked on getting better at consistency in hitting big shots which he was always capable of. However, he said that he never touched the bat even for once in that period of isolation. "It was almost quite nice to chill out for 10 days and forget about cricket - just have a little bit of time away. I found a little thing with Colly and Tres at Bristol. Something just clicked. I didn't pick up a bat for 10 days and then came in yesterday and felt really good,” Livingstone said. "Throughout my career I've been someone who has been a little bit more reckless. I've obviously got an ability to strike the ball but the thing I need to get better at is consistency. It's a technical thing, but mentally it helps to be able to stay calm when you're under pressure in a situation like I was tonight and swing a little bit less hard, knowing that you're in a better position to swing through the ball." Paul Collingwood has taken over from Chris Silverwood for the series against Pakistan and he said that the focus was on improving Livingstone’s positioning while hitting the ball. He pointed out that the right-hander’s back hip was collapsing while attempting the big shot in the area between long-on and deep midwicket and the support staff focussed on correcting that specific part of his batting technique. "We were really just trying to get the consistency of his striking a lot better," Collingwood explained. "We all know how far he can hit a ball and how powerful he is but having a direction and real kind of precision in his training [helps him] to understand exactly where he's hitting the ball and the trajectory of the ball coming off the bat,” Livingstone added. "In the past he's always been a little bit frustrated that his back hip collapses, which can then make him hit the ball a lot higher than he was hoping for, just doing a little bit of work on how far that front foot goes out and getting the base a little bit better. T20 batting can be like a golf swing, and just making sure when the beans are going and the adrenaline is going that you keep the base nice and solid so you can get consistency in the strike. Liam Livingstone has emerged as one of the firebrand batsmen the Eoin Morgan’s England like to play with but Collingwood pointed out that hitting the ball takes a lot more than the natural talent of striking the ball. He rated Livingstone’s hundred against Pakistan “special” and one of the most exciting innings he had seen. "He's very thoughtful and analyses quite a lot. As much as people might think that he just stands there and swings, there's a lot of thought that goes into his game. It's not just a God-given gift that he's got - he puts a lot of work and effort into this. That was as exciting an innings as I've seen out of any of our white-ball cricketers. You think you've got a real powerful unit there and then Liam does something like that - it's adding something special,” Collingwood. Collingwood showered praise on Livingstone and said that any batsman could not have done anything better than what he did on the night against Pakistan. He commended the “frightening” attitude of Livingstone as he always analyses his game to get better every day. "You can't do any more than what he's done last night," Collingwood said. "It's very hard not to pick a guy if he's played like that and what he gives as an overall package is very exciting - he's very much a modern T20 cricketer. He's growing all the time: he's not the finished article by any means, which is quite frightening to say,” Collingwood added. Livingstone would not find a place in a full-strength England T20 team but the team management led by Eoin Morgan would be ecstatic to have players like him to take over from the current breed of cricketers.