Who Will Win Eng vs Pak 1st Test?
Pakistan have made the ideal start to their tour of the United Kingdom, beating Ireland in a one-off test match by five wickets at Dublin. The visitors are now in England and are set to face the hosts in a two-match test series, the first of which is scheduled to be played at the Lord's in London from May 24. Live action will begin at 11 AM local time each day.
Eng vs Pak 1st Test: Where to Watch/Live Streaming
TV channels: Sky Sports Cricket, Star Sports, Ten Sports, Fox Sports
Live Streaming: Bet365, Sky Go, OSN Play, Hotstar
Toss Prediction
The wicket at the Lord's has been very good for batting and has produced some huge first-innings scores in recent times. Also, eight of the past nine test matches played at this ground have been won by the side that has batted first. Toss, therefore, is going to be an important factor here and whichever team wins it will probably elect to bat first.
Read on for team analysis, betting odds, betting tips and match prediction for Eng vs Pak 1st Test....
England Team News & Playing 11
Team News
England have announced a 12-man squad for the first test. The selectors have recalled Jos Buttler owing to his rich vein of form in the Indian Premier League. Wicket-keeper Jonny Bairstow has been retained and will be batting up the order which means that there is no room for James Vince in the side. Jack Leach has been ruled out of the series with a fractured thumb and has been replaced by young spinner Dominic Bess who is all set to make his test debut on Thursday. Alastair Cook is likely to open the batting with Mark Stoneman while Joe Root and Dawid Malan have been confirmed to bat at numbers three and four respectively. With Anderson, Broad and Stokes being automatic selections, the hosts will have to choose between Wood and Woakes as their fourth seam option.
Key Players
The hosts will bank on the likes of Alastair Cook, Joe Root, Jos Buttler and Jonny Bairstow to deliver the goods with the bat. Cook, with 12028 runs, is England's leading run-getter in tests and the second-highest run-getter in the format at the Lord's. Skipper Root is averaging over 58 at this venue, Bairstow hit a century in his previous test against New Zealand while Buttler is coming off an incredible IPL form. For taking wickets up front, England will turn to their new-ball specialists in James Anderson and Stuart Broad. In red-ball cricket, the duo has taken the most wickets for the team as well as the most wickets at this ground. England's spin attack will be led by debutant Dominic Bess and the mysterious off-spinner could fox the Pakistani batsmen who have not faced him before.
Recent Form
England's performance in test cricket of late has not been impressive. The hosts have not managed a single win in their past seven matches; they have lost five and drawn two. Their most recent test win came last year against the West Indies at this very venue. Since then, they have lost 0-4 to Australia in the Ashes before being beaten 0-1 by the Kiwis in a two-game series in New Zealand.
England Predicted Playing 11
Mark Stoneman, Alastair Cook, Joe Root (c), Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes, Stuart Broad, Chris Woakes/Mark Wood, Dominic Bess, James Anderson
Pakistan Team News & Playing 11
Team News
Batsmen Imam-ul-Haq, Saad Ali, Fakhar Zaman and Usman Salahuddin have earned maiden test call-ups while Shan Masood and Yasir Shah have been sidelined from the 16-man squad due to injuries. Leg-spinner Shadab Khan will replace Yasir in the playing eleven. Allrounder Faheem Ashraf, owing to his improved bowling of late, is likely to make his debut. The Pakistani selectors have retained Haris Sohail and brought back Rahat Ali but have ignored batsman Fawad Alam despite his good performance in the first-class season. Mohammad Amir picked up an injury and went off the field during the one-off test against Ireland. If the left-arm pace bowler does not get fully fit in time, the team will probably name Hasan Ali as the like-for-like replacement.
Key Players
Azhar Ali, with 5135 runs under his belt including 14 centuries and 27 fifties, has scored the most test runs for Pakistan from this current squad. He along with Asad Shafiq who was the team's best batsman in the last home test series against Sri Lanka in the UAE will be the key batsmen at the top. Middle order batting will rely mainly on skipper Sarfraz Ahmed and Babar Azam who scored 57 in the warm-up game against Northamptonshire before scoring 59 in the recent test against Ireland. Mohammad Amir will pose the biggest threat to the England openers with the new ball. But if he fails to recover from his injury, Pakistan will have to look elsewhere for getting the early breakthroughs. In that case, Mohammad Abbas who tormented Ireland with a match-haul of nine wickets seems to fit the bill. Shadab Khan is a very talented spinner and is another bowler who could make a big impact here with his deceptive off-breaks.
Recent Form
Pakistan have won three and lost four out of the seven test matches they have played since last year. Prior to their five-wicket win over Ireland in the last match, the visitors had a disappointing series against Sri Lanka in the UAE which they lost 0-2. However, they had earlier toured the West Indies for a three-match series which they ended up winning 2-1. Coming into this game, Pakistan would be slightly concerned regarding their batting as they were reduced to 14-3 by Ireland in the second innings in their pursuit of 160.
Pakistan Predicted Playing 11
Imam-ul-Haq, Azhar Ali, Haris Sohail, Asad Shafiq, Babar Azam, Sarfraz Ahmed (c/wk), Shadab Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Abbas, Rahat Ali, Mohammad Amir/Hasan Ali
May 24 - May 27, 2018
15:30 IST / 10:00 GMT
Lords Cricket Ground - London, England
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