Pak vs Eng: Green shirts reach Birmingham to play final ODI of series

• The squad reached Birmingham on Sunday afternoon after which it underwent another round of COVID-19 testing.
• With England already having a decisive 2-0 lead in the series, the game at Edgbaston on July 13 is going to be a dead rubber.
• Green shirts will be looking for a consolidating victory to avoid the series whitewash.

BIRMINGHAM: The Pakistan cricket squad has arrived in Birmingham to play the last of the three-match ODI series with hosts England. With England already having a decisive 2-0 lead in the series, the game at Edgbaston on July 13 is going to be a dead rubber.

The squad reached Birmingham on Sunday afternoon after which it underwent another round of COVID-19 testing. The players had a rather relaxed evening as there wasn’t any training session scheduled for the day. Green shirts will be looking for a consolidating victory to avoid the series whitewash.

Pakistan has so far played 14 ODIs at Edgbaston. The green shirts have been victorious six times, while they have lost eight matches.

In the bilateral series, Pakistan and England have faced each other five times with England winning three of the match, while Pakistan being successful twice.

The very first match played at Edgbaston between Pakistan and England was back in 1974 which was also the 2nd and the final match of the limited-overs series between the two countries. Pakistan won that match with a huge victory margin of eight wickets and also won the series by 2-0 — their only ODI series win against England in England to date.

Pacer Asif Masood was the player of the match for his brutal display of fast bowling. Asif conceded just nine runs in seven overs, claiming two wickets. Meanwhile, the trio of Sarfraz Nawaz, Imran Khan, and Asif Iqbal grabbed two wickets each as England could only manage 81/9 in a match reduced to 35 overs a side due to the rain.

Chasing a target of 82, Zaheer Abbas hit 57 off 61 balls as Pakistan won in the 18th over. The series will also be remembered as two of Pakistan’s greatest cricketers — Imran Khan and Zaheer Abbas — made their ODI debut.

The last time Pakistan played an ODI at Edgbaston was during the 2019 Cricket World Cup against New Zealand. A match which is remembered for a sublime batting display by Babar Azam, now the captain of the team.

Chasing a target of 238 runs in 50 overs, Babar hit 101 not-out to lead the team to victory. 

As Pakistan still searching for the first victory in the series and to avoid a clean sweep by England, fans are expecting Babar to display the same class that he did two years ago.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Warwickshire County Cricket Club, Stuart Cain has announced the day to celebrate the Pakistani culture. About 18,000 fans will be allowed in the stadium which is around 80% of the total capacity of the stadium. Entrance into the ground will be subject to a negative COVID -19 test report or proof of double vaccination.

Meanwhile left-handed middle-order batsman Haris Sohail has left for Pakistan. Haris — who was only selected for the ODI series — sustained a hamstring injury during a training session, while the team was staying at Derby was ruled out of the ODI series.