Pakistan and England have only met once before in the final of an ICC Cup – and what a coincidence That game was also played at MCG, 30 years ago. Pakistan won the famous encounter in the final of the 50+ FIFA World Cup in 1992, but what is the key confrontation this time?
Three of the six Super 12s matches scheduled at the MCG were canceled without a ball being dropped, and both England and Pakistan have tasted defeat in their previous visits: England have failed in a chase affected by rain against Irelandwhile Pakistani fans won’t need to mention the pain of their finals against India.
The total of the first three hits at this field during the World Cup was 159 to 8, 157 to all and 186 to 5; The first ball is kicked from the last ball, and the other two are successfully defended.
Of the 29 T20 games completed at the venue since the start of the 2019-20 season, the first half average score is 167, the winning first half average score is 181 and overall there is a slight bias in favor of the teams. defense (16 wins to 13).
At the time, the spinner (7.43 economic ratio) was tighter than the tailor (8.34), but also took a ball every 23.1 balls compared to the rate The tailor’s collective strike was 18.9. In the three World Cup matches there, the gyro was slightly more expensive (7.75 economic rate) than the gyro (7.70); and also have a worse strike rate (17.9 vs 15.0).
David Hussey, whose Melbourne Stars play home games at the MCG, told ESPNcricinfo before the tournament that the key for bowling teams is to have the batters hit the racket square and out onto the big field. “The boundary dimensions are your dead straight [as a batter]while the square on either side of the pitch is, of course, quite large,” he said.
“Pitchers use a lot of shifts and more balls are slower to hit the field, so teams are hitting big squares to eliminate line options. However, when you’re playing against As a hitter, you just have to hit pretty much in the space and run very, very hard. And when you get that full ball, go ahead and hit the dead ball straight and use the lines. shorter margin to your advantage.”
Familiar face
Britain and Pakistan will equal the record on Sunday Most men’s T20Is played between two teams and the final will be the eighth official T20 they have contested in the past two months, following their recent seven-match series in Pakistan. They also play a warm-up match against each other at Gabba in October, while England’s players make regular appearances in PSL and Pakistan’s in T20 Blast. Neither team is likely to be taken by surprise by the opposition.
There are a few caveats. With the exception of their warm-up in Brisbane, this will be the first time the teams have met on Australian soil and this World Cup is a good reminder of the importance of pitches and conditions in T20 cricket. A few players with little experience in Pakistan-England matches: Naseem Shah and Mohammad Haris faced England once, while Ben Stokes will only play his second T20I against Pakistan and his first in six years.
Key players from both sides missed the recent series in Pakistan due to injury and as a result, certain head-to-head matches didn’t happen much before: Jos Buttlerfor example, only face seven balls from Shaheen Shah Afridi in T20 cricket, and five word balls Haris Rauf.
Should Pakistan turn its head?
Fifteen of the 16 teams at this World Cup have bowled at least once in the game of power. The only exception? Pakistan, who split the first six rounds between Afridi, Naseem, Rauf and Mohammad Wasim Jnr during the tournament.
That might be unlikely, but it’s likely that will change on Sunday – especially if the new ball doesn’t swing for Afridi, who is sure to hit first. In their recent bilateral series, Mohammad Nawaz bowled on either the first or second innings of each match and silenced Alex Hales: he conceded 19 times out of the 19 balls he took. throw to him, and chase him once. Buttler, meanwhile, has never faced him.
There may also be a temptation to get Shadab Khan into the game early: he knocked Buttler twice in all T20 cricket and conceded 21 times out of the 21 balls he threw for him. Given England’s recent success in the opening tie, Pakistan will need to keep them quiet soon: Buttler and Hales have scored 125.49 combined in the round robin this tournament, compared to 154.08 than the seam.
England’s openers scored the majority of the team’s runs throughout the tournament: Hales and Buttler had 410 runs between them, while their third-highest scorer was Ben Stokes with just 56. While England have a famous long-ball formation, Pakistan will love their chance if they can catch the ball early and reveal players who have had limited playing time in midfield in Australia.
Can you target weak links?
Pakistan’s batting is a mixed sport but their bowling has always been excellent, especially since they made the decision to shift the balance of their side after their defeat to India. They brought in Wasim Jnr for Asif Ali after failing to defend 159 in that game and have since conceded a total of 130 for 8, 91 for 9, 108 for 9 (in 14 rounds), 127 for 8 and 152 for 4. Since starting from Super 12s, they have used more players than any other team and have the tightest economic ratios.
England will see their best chance to disrupt Pakistan by taking out less experienced pitchers on their side, namely Naseem and Wasim Jnr: both have excelled in bowling in Australia, with economic odds are 6.00 and 6.61 respectively, but playing only 40 T20I between them and England will look to put pressure on them.
Their openers are particularly adept at picking pitchers they consider the weak link in opposition attacks and targeting them, as evidenced by Hales’ Tim Southee knock-out first. New Zealand and Kasun Rajitha against Sri Lanka.
Who should Pakistan use in the middle order?
Pakistan has used Nawaz and Shadab as mid-level ‘floats’ with some success in the last three months, putting them in the order of being able to target opposition spinners. It didn’t really work out this World Cup: Nawaz scored 4/11 in his only round in the top 5, while Shadab’s only notable inning came from 7th place against South Africa .
That said, they will still consider being flexible in Sunday’s final. Haris has been a revelation since being selected but has scored 12 spins on 16 spins in his fledgling T20I career, in two appearances; all his boundaries for Pakistan are against fast bow players. As a result, there is a case of shuffling him down orders if Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam beyond power play, with England potentially beating Adil Rashid, Liam Livingstone and potentially Moeen Ali through the middle circles.
Shan Masood has performed well as a mainstay in this tournament and has played well against Rashid and Moeen in Pakistan, scoring over 150 goals against both. If Pakistan gets off to a good start, don’t be surprised to see Masood climb to 3rd with Iftikhar Ahmed – who knocked out Axar Patel and R Ashwin in Pakistan’s previous game at the MCG – also likely to continue their push. in the middle of the pass.
Important match
Babar Azam vs Adil Rashid
Babar has been missed three times by Rashid and has scored 77 times from the 61 balls he has faced, a steady strike rate of 126.22. However, he has struggled to pick out Rashid’s googly in their previous encounters: two of his three dismissals have gone wrong, one in Manchester last year, the other in Manchester last year. back in Karachi in September. Babar has been wary of the long-legged players this year, scoring with an attack rate of 113.69 against the long-legged players in the T20Is: will he drop his shackles on the big stage?
Liam Livingstone vs Haris Rauf
Livingstone has featured in every match England have played in the last two T20 World Cups, but has only faced 72 balls, showing how difficult it is for middleweight players to make such an impact. in such a short tournament. However, Pakistan is his favorite opponent: he had his only 10th international match so far against them in July 2021 and would love to catch Rauf’s pace: he has faced with 19 balls from him in all T20 tournaments and scored 51 runs – including 5 sixs.
Moeen Ali vs Shadab Khan
Like Livingstone, Moeen has struggled to make an impact with batsman this World Cup, having faced only 33 balls, but England will try to push him through the turns. center line ahead of Pakistan – especially if Dawid Malan, another left-hander, doesn’t recover from a groin injury in time. Moeen faced 36 balls from Shadab Khan in the T20 years, scoring 64 runs in two eliminations: he could be the man to knock out Pakistan’s top crank.
Input from Gaurav Sundararaman
