England vs Pakistan, 3rd T20I, Preview: High-scoring series set for a thrilling decider in Manchester

Pakistan's England tour is set to conclude on Tuesday and this time, unlike the ODI series, it will be the decider. The three-match T20I series has certainly lived up to its billing and the first two matches, though kind of one-sided, have been enthralling. It was the duo of Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan blowing away inexperienced England bowling in the series opener.

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However, the hosts responded in an emphatic fashion while continuing to make experiments ahead of the T20 World Cup. Their skipper Eoin Morgan rested himself for the crunch game and under Jos Buttler, they did the job to level the series rather comfortably. The depth in English cricket is scary and that has been on display in both ODI and T20I series.

Pakistan, on the other hand, have been largely blamed for opting to bowl first after winning the toss in the previous game. But one cannot fault them given England's strength with the bat as no score seems safe. Even their highest T20I total 232 in the opening game didn't look safe until the last couple of overs.

The surface at the Old Trafford will no doubt be a belter for batting and expect it to be a straight shootout between the batting line-ups of both the teams.

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Match Details

3rd T20I - England vs Pakistan

Series - 1-1

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Match Timings - 11 PM IST

Live Streaming - Sony LIV

Venue - Old Trafford, Manchester.

Probable Playing XIs

England

Expect England to continue to rotate their players to give everyone a chance. Eoin Morgan should be back to leading the side while it might be Jonny Bairstow's turn to rest now. Even Tom Banton might get a go after indifferent outings for Dawid Malan, the number one T20I batsman. With the ball, Jake Ball might finally get a game after being benched for five limited-overs games now.

Probable XI: Jos Buttler (WK), Jason Roy, Tom Banton/Dawid Malan, Moeen Ali, Liam Livingstone, Eoin Morgan (C), Tom Curran, Saqib Mahmood, David Willey/Jake Ball, Adil Rashid, Chris Jordan.

Pakistan

Third and fourth bowlers have been a problem for Pakistan on this tour. Mohammad Hasnain and Haris Rauf were extremely erratic in the previous game and though they shared five wickets between by the end of the innings, the duo leaked 99 runs in 8 overs in total. An extra spinner in Mohammad Nawaz or Usman Qadir might help them in controlling the innings in the decider.

Probable XI: Mohammad Rizwan (WK), Babar Azam (C), Sohaib Maqsood, Mohammad Hafeez, Fakhar Zaman, Azam Khan, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Nawaz/Usman Qadir, Mohammad Hasnain/Haris Rauf, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Afridi.