Pakistan captain, Babar Azam, has won the toss and chosen to bowl first in the opening T20I of the three-match series against England at Emirates Old Trafford.
Eoin Morgan, the England captain, admitted he also would have chosen to bowl first on a surface which has been under cover for most of the day after heavy rain in Manchester.
While the Pakistan team contains five spinning allrounders – including Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik, who made their debut in this format together in Pakistan’s first T20I 14 years ago to the day against the same opposition – on a surface which traditionally favours spin, the atmospheric conditions may be more to the liking of the seamers. Mohammad Amir and Haris Rauf make their first appearances of the tour, while Shaheen Afridi is one of three Pakistan men to have featured in the third Test as well as this game.
With Jason Roy injured, Tom Banton will open for England with Jonny Bairstow. Dawid Malan retains his place – he was in the side the last time England played a T20I in South Africa – and Lewis Gregory wins the battle for the all-rounders spot ahead of David Willey. There was no place for Joe Denly.
England 1 Tom Banton 2 Jonny Bairstow (wk) 3 Dawid Malan 4 Eoin Morgan (capt) 5 Sam Billings 6 Moeen Ali 7 Lewis Gregory 8 Tom Curran 9 Chris Jordan 10 Adil Rashid 11 Saqib Mahmood
Pakistan 1 Babar Azam (capt), 2 Fakhar Zaman, 3 Mohammad Hafeez, 4 Shoaib Malik, 5 Mohammad Rizwan (wk), 6 Iftikhar Ahmed, 7 Shadab Khan, 8 Imad Wasim, 9 Mohammad Amir, 10 Shaheen Afridi, 11 Haris Rauf
