Pakistan vs England 6th T20I: Focus remains on hosts' middle-order

The ongoing Pakistan vs England T20 series has been a treat to watch with some nail-biting matches keeping fans at edge of their seat. Five matches have been played already and two more left to play, but one just can’t get enough of it with the way the two sides have contested against each other.

It won’t be wrong to say that the Pakistan vs England sixth T20 could well be another treat to watch as the visitors play to keep themselves ahead in the series at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on Friday.

Rizwan likely to be rested

Some comfort could be on the offer for the English side, who trail 2-3 in the series, as Pakistan’s MVP Mohammad Rizwan may sit out the game.

The wicket-keeper batter, who scored four half centuries in five games and is the highest scorer (315 runs) in the series, didn’t take the field after scoring a well-crafted 63 in first innings of the fifth T20 two days ago. The 30-year-old ‘keeper was replaced by Mohammad Harris behind the stumps in the second innings.

Pakistan’s batting concerns

While resting Rizwan with World Cup in mind is thoroughly justifiable, it also presents remaining Pakistan batters to prove their credentials because very few of them have impressed in the series so far. Barring Rizwan and captain Babar Azam (194), none of the batters have scored more than 100 runs.

There’s concern over Azam’s consistency as well with express English pacer Mark Wood making his life difficult in the last two games. To Azam’s benefit, Wood is likely to miss the game but won’t solve his prevailing weakness against genuine pace.

The elegant right-hander is not facing any heat like Shan Masood, who is the team’s third-highest scorer but at a lowly 100 runs and has been misfiring. It did surprise many as the 32-year-old was in good form at the domestic level and impressed in the third T20 with a 65 not out in a losing cause. Since then, however, he has failed to perform with knocks of 21 and 7 respectively.

Rest for Haris Rauf?

As far as their bowling is concerned, Pakistan are also expected to rest their in-form pacer Haris Rauf as the right-armer has been carrying the load of fast bowling on his shoulders with eight wickets in five games. Rauf still may feature in the game after teenager Naseem Shah was ruled out of the series after returning COVID-19 positive.

Is Aamer Jamal the answer to Pakistan’s death bowling woes?

Pakistan entered the tournament amid rich bowling talents in Hasnain, Dahani and Naseem but conceding runs at a canter during the death overs exposed the inexperience in bowling. The weakness was pointed out by Pakistan legend Inzamam Ul-Haq as well, who felt Pakistan bowling lacks the venom to go all the way in the T20 World Cup.

That perception may change with Aamer Jamal showing nerves of steel on his debut two nights ago. Defending 15 off the last over, Jamal’s accuracy with the yorker length kept a pinch-hitter like Moeen Ali quiet as Pak clinched the match. However, just one-game heroics can’t be enough to the term the 26-year-old bowler as a death-over specialist and he would need to deliver the goods on a consistent basis.

England succumbing under pressure

England, on the other hand, have problems of their own as the side has shown they are prone to collapse while chasing. In the last two matches, England were cruising at one point before they let Pakistan get back in. Much of the blame falls on the English top-order, who hasn’t provided the desired start as frequently as the side would have wanted. Likes of Phil Salt, Alex Hales and Dawid Malan have not been a terror to their bowling rivals as they turned out to be in various franchise leagues around the globe.

Malan, in particular, was expected to lead the English batting order but his batting approach hasn’t really suited the England team’s fire-from-the-start approach.

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