SOUTHAMPTON: Pakistani players are all set to clash with England in the first One-Day International of the five-match series today (Wednesday).
The match will start at 6:00PM Pakistan Standard Time (PST) at Southampton, England.
Earlier, Pakistan defeated England in the third Test match and acquired number one spot in the ICC Test rankings.
One-day captain Azhar Ali is confident the team’s white-ball fortunes can be turned around following what was, to many observers, their surprise effort in winning two Tests in English conditions.
“Confidence is very high and belief is there, obviously coming from the Test series, we had a very good couple of months here,” Azhar told reporters at Southampton on Tuesday. “We take that confidence into the one-day internationals as well.
“Being number one is a massive boost and a proud moment for Pakistan cricket and the whole nation is very happy about it, and as players the team is really happy about it.
“It’s definitely a good thing for us. Our one-day ranking is not great right now but we will take the opportunity and the way the team is performing, hopefully we can convert it into ODIs as well.”
After the Test series, Pakistan thrashed Ireland by 255 runs in an ODI at Malahide on Thursday and Saturday’s second fixture in a two-match series was washed out.
England Squad
EJG Morgan*, MM Ali, JM Bairstow, JT Ball, JC Buttler†, LA Dawson, AD Hales, CJ Jordan, LE Plunkett, AU Rashid, JE Root, JJ Roy, BA Stokes, DJ Willey, CR Woakes, MA Wood
Pakistan Squad
Azhar Ali*, Babar Azam, Hasan Ali, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Nawaz (3), Mohammad Rizwan†, Sami Aslam, Sarfraz Ahmed†, Sharjeel Khan, Shoaib Malik, Umar Gul, Wahab Riaz, Yasir Shah.
