Pakistan forewarned England’s erratic batting lineup to anticipate a trial by spin when the two teams play in the T20 World Cup Super Eights.
England labored to 146/9 against Sri Lanka’s spinners on Sunday and Pakistan batsman Sahibzada Farhan told reporters England can anticipate more of the same from Pakistan’s spinners when they play on Tuesday night in Kandy at the same Pallekele pitch.
After their first game against New Zealand was rained out, Pakistan is in desperate need of a victory. A loss for Pakistan would advance England, who defeated Sri Lanka by 51 runs after bundling out them for 95, to the semifinals with one game remaining.
After defeating Sri Lanka in their last Super Eights game, Pakistan would have to pray for other favorable outcomes in order to advance to the round of four.
“What we saw in the Sri Lanka-England game was that the ball was gripping and England struggled against spin. Sri Lanka have one or two spinners but we have five in all so we will give England a tough time on a pitch that looks good and will grip,” AFP quoted Farhan as saying on Monday.
In the four games thus far, Pakistan’s spinners have claimed 26 wickets. Only seven batsmen have been removed by their seamers. Pakistan will be eyeing history since they have lost all three of their Twenty20 World Cup matches against England.
Farhan, who scored an unbeaten 100 against Namibia in Pakistan’s final group match, said, “We are confident and our morale is high. We are focused on this match to win and progress.”
Farhan, who leads the T20 World Cup in runs scored (220), declared that he was prepared for the threat posed by England pace spearhead Jofra Archer.
“Facing Archer will not be difficult because I have faced similar bowlers in Pakistan. So if he has plans against me, I also have plans against him,” said Farhan.
In lieu of seaming all-rounder Faheem Ashraf, Pakistan is probably going to name spinner Abrar Ahmed. With Liam Dawson, Will Jacks, Adil Rashid, and Jacob Bethell as their spin options, England might start an unchanged team for the seventh straight game.
The other two teams in Pakistan and England’s Super Eights group are Sri Lanka and New Zealand. On Wednesday, they will meet in Colombo. The top two teams will reach the semifinals.
