Pakistan Today

England win toss, opt to bat first as Pakistan looking to avoid whitewash

England won the toss and decided to bat first against Pakistan in the fifth and final One Day International (ODI) against Pakistan.

England is leading the series by 3-0.

Having already sealed the five-match one-day international series against Pakistan, England will be keen to maintain their unbeaten record in the final ODI on Sunday, May 19m reported ICC. 

England have now won five of their last seven completed ODIs. They are on song, they mean business, so far in this series against Pakistan, they’ve shown an ability to grind out results. They are adding meat to suggestions that they are favourites for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019.

Pakistan, meanwhile, must be wondering what they need to do different to get over the line. In all three completed matches, they have posted scores over 300, only to be outdone by England each time.

Their batting looks strong, but their bowling can do a bit better, even given the fact that the pitches so far have had plenty of assistance for batters. With high-scoring games expected in the World Cup, their bowling unit needs to step up, as does the fielding department.

Key Players

Joe Root (England): With the openers scoring a bulk of the total runs so far, Root has been left without much to do. In the few times he has got an outing, he has done well with handy knocks of 40, 43 and 36. The last time he played in Leeds, he scored a match-winning century against India, and the 28-year-old will be hoping for an encore come Sunday.

Imam-ul-Haq (Pakistan): The visitors’ biggest positive in the series has been the opener’s terrific form. He is the leading run-scorer for them with 234 runs in four matches, and has the highest average (117) among all batsmen in the series. He was hurt by a Mark Wood bouncer, but he is expected to put that behind and keep batting.

Conditions

Typically overcast English conditions are expected, with a high of 19. Brief showers are forecast late in the afternoon, but that isn’t expected to affect the prospects of a full match.

Squads

England: Eoin Morgan (c), Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler (wk), Tom Curran, Joe Denly, Chris Jordan, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, James Vince, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood

Pakistan: Sarfaraz Ahmed (c, wk), Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Abid Ali, Babar Azam, Haris Sohail, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Hafeez, Imad Wasim, Yasir Shah, Hasan Ali, Faheem Ashraf, Junaid Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Amir, Asif Ali

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