England and Pakistan will face each other in the third T20I today (May 28) at the Sophia Gardens in Cardiff. This is the penultimate match before the T20 World Cup for both teams as they have opted to not play a warm-up match in the lead up to the tournament. Both sides would be keen on trying different combinations to make sure they are settled for the mega event.
The hosts are leading the series 1-0 having won the second game of the series by 23 runs defending 183 runs. Captain Jos Buttler and comeback man Jofra Archer were the star players in their respective department. But England will miss their skipper at least for this encounter as he is away on paternity leave. Buttler and his wife Louise are expecting their third child soon and he might miss the fourth T20I as well.
As for Pakistan, they weren't at their best in the last game and are in a must-win situation to stay alive in the series. Saim Ayub is going through a rough phase at the moment while Mohammad Rizwan also didn't score many in the last game. Babar Azam and Fakhar Zaman were the only two batters to click while other batters couldn't contribute much. Shadab Khan's form too is not great at the moment as he conceded 55 runs in his four overs.
Sophia Gardens, Cardiff Pitch Report
Sophia Gardens has hosted 10 matches in the shortest format before and the surface on offer could be a decent one to bat on. However, the new ball will swing a bit at this venue. Bowling first has to be the way to go for the teams winning the toss as chasing side has won seven matches. Average first innings score is 145 here but certainly, 170-175 could be par at the venue.
Sophia Gardens Cardiff - T20I Numbers Game
Matches Played - 10
Matches won batting first - 3
Matches won batting second - 7
Average first innings score - 145
Highest total - 207/3 by SA vs ENG
Lowest total - 89/10 by PAK vs ENG
Highest score chased - 175/3 by ENG vs PAK
Lowest score defended - 182/5 by ENG vs AUS
Squads
Pakistan - Mohammad Rizwan, Saim Ayub, Babar Azam(c), Fakhar Zaman, Shadab Khan, Azam Khan(w), Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Shaheen Afridi, Mohammad Amir, Haris Rauf, Agha Salman, Hasan Ali, Abrar Ahmed, Naseem Shah, Abbas Afridi, Irfan Khan, Usman Khan
England - Philip Salt(w), Will Jacks, Ben Duckett, Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook, Moeen Ali(c), Liam Livingstone, Chris Jordan, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Reece Topley, Mark Wood, Sam Curran, Tom Hartley
