Pakistan vs. England, 2nd ODI: Date, Time, Live Stream, TV Info, Preview
England and Pakistan go head to head again at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, in the second one-dayer on Friday.
Pakistan landed the first blow in the four-match series, winning the opening game by six wickets on Wednesday at the same venue.
Their bowlers did a sterling job to restrict England to 216 all out. Mohammad Hafeez then made an unbeaten 102 in his side's successful run chase under the floodlights.
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The tourists did have some bright moments in defeat—Eoin Morgan and James Taylor both made half-centuries with the bat, while left-arm seamer Reece Topley picked up three for 26.
However, they must improve with bat and ball if they are to draw level before the series moves on to Sharjah.
Date: Friday, November 13, 2015
Time: 3 p.m. local (11 a.m. GMT, 6 a.m. ET)
Venue: Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Live Stream and TV Info: Sky Sports (UK), PTV (Pakistan), SuperSport (South Africa), Ten Sports (Bangladesh), NowTV (UK Streaming Service)
Weather: According to AccuWeather, it will be sunny and pleasant during the day. As for the evening, there will be some cloud cover but no threat of rain interrupting proceedings.
Overview
Pakistan gave Younis Khan a winning finale to one-day cricket on Wednesday, although the retiring batsmen was unable to mark the occasion with a big score.
After being recalled for the series, Younis promptly caught everyone—including the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), according to ESPN Cricinfo—by surprise when he announced his retirement from 50-over cricket.
He made just nine from 18 deliveries in his farewell innings, but he received a deserved guard of honour from his team-mates after ending his ODI career with 7,249 runs in 265 matches.
His wicket gave England a brief glimmer of hope, as they reduced Pakistan to 41 for three in their chase.
However, centurion Hafeez combined with Babar Azam, who made an unbeaten 62 at a run-a-ball rate, to put the visitors' meagre total in perspective. Pakistan coasted home with 38 deliveries to spare.
Having won the toss and elected to bat first, England contrived to undermine their chances with not one, but two collapses.
They slipped to 14 for three inside four overs, but captain Morgan and Taylor repaired the early damage with a fourth-wicket stand worth 133.
But, with the platform to push on and post a challenging score, England shot themselves in the foot by losing another four wickets for 14 runs.
Their cause was not helped by the run out of Jos Buttler for just one, with captain Azhar Ali producing a sharp throw to catch England's big-hitting wicketkeeper-batsman short.
Azhar also held on to a sharp low catch at mid-wicket to remove Taylor for 60, though team-mate Babar's one-handed grab to send Moeen Ali on his way for seven was even better.
Pakistan's fielding as a whole was excellent—not something you could always say about their teams in the past—as a youthful outfit backed up their bowlers brilliantly.
England's attack simply never had enough runs to play with in the second innings. Pakistan once again targeted their spinners, Moeen Ali, Adil Rashid and Joe Root. The trio combined for figures of one for 104 off 19 overs.
Topley's performance was a plus point, but the tourists must hunt as a pack.
Perhaps, though, it was all Morgan's fault. As OptaJim revealed on Twitter, England don't have a great track record when choosing to bat first overseas:
As for possible team changes, Pakistan will need to pick a batsman to replace the retired Younis.
Ahmed Shehzad played in the ODI series in Zimbabwe in October, though he is more accustomed to opening the innings.
Mohammad Rizwan is also a possibility—provided he is back in the UAE. Per News Tribe, the 23-year-old missed the opening game after returning to Pakistan for personal reasons.
England, meanwhile, will not panic after one bad loss. Still, they could bolster the bowling options with a little extra pace, with Chris Jordan and Liam Plunkett options to come into the XI.
Key Players
Pakistan
With Younis Khan now gone from the batting order, joining Misbah-ul-Haq in one-day retirement, even more responsibility is placed on Mohammad Hafeez's shoulders.
The batsman's unbeaten century in the first ODI was his second in as many international knocks against England, having hit 151 in the second innings of the third Test.
Hafeez has now had just one single-digit score in his last 12 one-day innings, a run of form that has included four half-centuries and now two hundreds.
England
Jos Buttler has made just 59 runs in his five ODI innings since smashing 129 at the start of the home series against New Zealand back in June.
Dropped from the Test XI for the third and final match of the series against Pakistan, the wicketkeeper-batsman now finds himself under pressure to keep hold of his place in the 50-over side.
England will be patient with such a wonderful talent, but Buttler's run out on Wednesday was hardly what the situation required. While he was not totally to blame, his dismissal could easily have been prevented.
Squads
Pakistan
Azhar Ali (captain), Ahmed Shehzad, Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Sarfraz Ahmed (wicketkeeper), Anwar Ali, Aamer Yamin, Yasir Shah, Zafar Gohar, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Irfan, Rahat Ali, Bilal Asif
England
Eoin Morgan (captain), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Sam Billings, Jos Buttler, Alex Hales, Chris Jordan, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, James Taylor, Reece Topley, David Willey, Chris Woakes
All statistics used in the preview are from ESPN Cricinfo.
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