England vs Pakistan, 3rd T20I: Fantasy Preview

After a typical English display of fearless batting, it was a trial by spin that jolted Pakistan in the second T20I. Jos Buttler, Moeen Ali and Liam Livingstone created havoc with the bat before the spin troika of Ali, Adil Rashid and Matt Parkinson bowled 11 overs between them and accounted for five wickets. As things stand the series is evenly poised with all to play for the in the decider.

Ground Details and Team Combination

In the last three years, there have been two completed T20Is played here and one game was washed out in the middle of the first innings. All of these were played between the same teams. The completed games saw a score of 185 in every innings. Going by how the first two T20Is have panned out, expect a high-scoring game again. 

Spinners and pacers have picked up the same proportion of wickets here in these five innings. However, in this series so far, the pacers have taken 20 out of 32 (62.5%) wickets.

Suggested Team

While you could go for the above team, you also have the option of choosing your own team from Cricket.com’s Fantasy Research Centre. You can use this tool to build your team with the help of algorithms. Based on your preferences, the platform will guide you to create the ideal fantasy XI. 

Captain Suggestion

England have finally decided to take a leaf out of the book of Chennai Super Kings and use Moeen Ali as a spin basher. While it might not be for the long run, right now Moeen seems to have been given the role to bat higher up the order and express himself. He failed in the first T20I but impressed in the second. He has all the shots to bash Imad Wasim and Shadab Khan in the middle overs. Moreover, he is bound to get wickets with the ball as well. Hence there is no better choice for the captain.

X-Factors

1. Liam Livingstone has been on the top of the run-scoring chart in this series and looks in great nick. Ignore him in your XI at your own peril.
2. Shaheen Shah Afridi and Mohammed Hasnain are crucial for Pakistan chances and given they bowl at the death, are likely to fetch you points.

Here are the top-10 picks as per criclytics projected points-

Player updates 

1. Lewis Gregory did not play the last game but Englan might want to give him a go-ahead of someone like Tom Curran who has had his ups and downs. Gregory is expected to fetch 75 points.
2. Eoin Morgan did not play the last game but is likely to make came back. Either Roy or Bairstow might miss out then. Even Buttler can be rested, so keep a lookout for the XI after the toss

Player Match-ups 

Shadab Khan has tangled Jonny Bairstow with his leg-spin in T20Is. He has got him out twice in just four balls. You can check out more in-depth projections and key match-ups for this match here.

Probable XIs

England: Jason Roy/Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler (wk), Dawid Malan, Moeen Ali, Liam Livingstone, Eoin Morgan (c), Lewis Gregory/Tom Curran, Chris Jordan, Adil Rashid, Matt Parkinson, Saqib Mahmood

Pakistan: Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Babar Azam (c), Fakhar Zaman, Sohaib Maqsood, Mohammad Hafeez, Azam Khan, Shadab Khan, Imad Wasim, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Hasnain, Shaheen Shah Afridi