England cricket team led by Joe Root would be wary of unpredictable Pakistan, when the two sides lock horns for the first test of three-match series at the Old Trafford Stadium, Manchester on Wednesday. This will be Pakistan cricket team’s first international match since coronavirus stoppage while the hosts would look to continues their form from the West Indies Test series.
ICC World Test Championship points table
The England vs Pakistan three-match Test series will be part of ICC World test championship (ICC WTC) and England has an opportunity to super cede Australia, who is on second position. England moved up to third position after winning the Test series against West Indies 2-1. Pakistan, on the other hand, would look to overtake New Zealand to fourth position. India is top of the points table with 360 points in nine matches.
Check ICC Test Championship latest news and points table here
Eng vs Pak 1st Test playing 11 prediction
England has named the same squad that won the Wisden Trophy and it will be interesting to see what will be their bowling combination for the first Test. The pace quartet of Jofra Archer, James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Chris Woakes were exceptional in the last test. It will be interesting to see what combination Root will pick, given Pakistan’s head coach Misbah ul haq hinted playing two spinners.Date: August 5-9, 2020
Toss Timing: 3:00 pm (IST)
Match start Time: 03:30 pm (IST)
Venue: Old Trafford, Manchester
England vs Pakistan 1st Test match will be telecast live on Sony Six and Sony Six HD with English commentary. Fans could also watch the live streaming of ENG vs PAK match on Sony Liv website, app and airtel stream.
The Old Trafford pitch report
The Old Trafford has always supported seamers; however, it has produced turn and bounce for spinners from Day 1. The reason why Misbah hinted fielding two spinners on Monday during a press briefing.
Here are the squads of both the teams:
England: Joe Root (C), James Anderson, Jofra Archer, Dominic Bess, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Zak Crawley, Sam Curran, Ollie Pope, Dom Sibley, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood, James Bracey, Ben Foakes, Jack Leach, Dan Lawrence
Pakistan: Azhar Ali (C), Babar Azam, Abid Ali, Asad Shafiq, Faheem Ashraf, Fawad Alam, Imam ul haq, Imran Khan, Kashif Bhatti, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Rizwan, Naseem Shah, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shan Masood, Sohail Khan, Usman Shinwari, Wahab Riaz, Yasir Shah.