Pak vs Eng: Pakistan take on a stronger England side in 1st T20I today

• Pak vs Eng match to begin at 10:30pm PST. 
• Eoin Morgan, eight others return to the England squad. 
• Skipper Babar Azam has said Pakistan aims to bounce back after embarrassing ODI series whitewash. 

Pakistan will attempt to shrug off their embarrassing 3-0 ODI series loss to a second-choice England squad Friday as they take on the hosts in the first T20I at Trent Bridge. 

England will be emboldened by the return of skipper Eoin Morgan, Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, Moeen Ali, and Jos Buttler and four others who had to complete their period of isolation after seven members of the squad tested positive for coronavirus. 

Trent Bridge will offer flat wickets and a shorter boundary for the batsmen to score more runs. Pakistan found its form late with the bat, scoring a mammoth 331 runs in the third and last ODI. 

Despite skipper Babar Azam's heroics, the visitors lost as England successfully chased the target courtesy poor bowling and fielding from Pakistan. 

The Pakistani captain had said that the side will aim to bounce back in the series. 

"In the international level when you play against topsides, the margin of error is negligible. When you lack in one or two departments, you have to improve those and I believe bad days will come but the effort will remain to bounce back in the upcoming T20 series," he had said. 

The match is scheduled to begin at 10:30pm PST. 

Head-to-Head

In their last five head-to-head T20I clashes, both sides have claimed two victories each, with one match ending in a no-result verdict.

In the last encounter, Pakistan emerged triumphant by the barest of margins.

Pakistan posted 190, thanks to Mohammad Hafeez’s 52-ball 86 and Haider Ali’s half-century. The game then went down the wire with Moeen Ali firing away to a 33-ball 61 but a late collapse in the chase meant Pakistan got away with a five-run win.

Misbah says Pakistan lost series due to weak domestic system

Pakistan's 3-0 whitewash in England was because of the country's "weak domestic cricket system", Head Coach Misbah-ul-Haq had said earlier.

Haq believes England had the luxury to shuffle with its resources. “Unlike England, finding a replacement or a new player for a particular place becomes difficult [for Pakistan]," Haq was quoted as saying by The News. He was speaking at a virtual press conference Wednesday.

“The strength of the system allows England to fill in the vacuum. We don’t have such a luxury. We are finding it hard to pick a right player in the middle-order as one odd performance in the T20 League cricket sometimes helps a player to earn a place on the team," Haq had said.

He said that countries like England have multiple choices because of the "strength of their system”.

Haq said Pakistan's series defeat in England was "as surprising for us all as for everyone back home."

"We have no words to defend the 3-0 loss which came after a series of victories. We thought that we were capable of beating the best as we had shown in recent series. But now I think we have to start from scratch," he said.