Cricket: Pak-England T20 series begins today

DUBAI: The three-match series of Twenty20 Internationals will begin today after a three-Test and four-ODI series in the United Arab Emirates.

Strangely, earlier series of two cricket formats were whitewashed – the Test series by Pakistan and the ODI series by England – and if the T20I series is also resulted in a clean sweep by either side, this will be a unique cricket series as an unpredictable tour.

After making a clean sweep in the three-Test series, Pakistan were surprisingly whitewashed by England and now captain Misbah-ul Haq says his boys are desperate to redress the balance in the T20 International series which is being kicked-off today in Dubai.

Pakistan were Tuesday routed 4-0 by England, who showed a big improvement
from their 3-0 defeat in the preceding three-Test series.

Misbah wants his side to regain the upper hand, but also wants to use the first match as a stepping stone towards the World Twenty20 series later this year.

"This is a very important series for us, moreso because we won the Tests, they won the ODIs and now it's almost the decider," said Misbah.

"And if you consider that this is World Twenty20 year, it's very important for us to come back."

England will defend the title they won in the West Indies in 2010 when Sri Lanka host the fourth edition of the World Twenty20.

Pakistan will ring some changes, with experienced batsman Younis Khan and Azhar Ali returning home while dashing uncapped left-handed opener Awais Zia joins the Twenty20 squad.

England will be captained by paceman Stuart Broad in this format after Andrew Strauss led the Test side and Alastair Cook the One-day squad.

England have retained Cook, originally not named in the Twenty20 squad, after he showed great form in scoring back-to-back hundreds in the first two one-day matches.

Meanwhile, Broad said his side would be using every opportunity possible to help prepare them for the defence of their World Twenty20 title.

"Of course, we need to make use of every game we have because there isn't many leading to the World Twenty20. And that being in the sub-continent we need to really make use of these conditions," said Broad.

"It makes these games pretty important. We are not looking to these matches as a warm-up, we are looking to win this series and that is what we will be focusing on," added Broad.