England's tour of Pakistan

 

England's tour of Pakistan is a welcome return of international cricket in Pakistan. Now Pakistan is no longer a no-go zone in cricketing world and we no longer have to depend on neutral venues like the UAE for our home matches.

England start as clear favourites over Pakistan in this home series of 7 matches played in Karachi and Lahore. England have got great strikers and clean hittters in their batting line up whereas Pakistan only have Asif Ali who can really hit the ball hard. Asif Ali is not dependable as was seen in his performances in Asia Cup. Pakistan have included Shan Masood who will give stability in the middle order.

Pakistan  once again depend a lot on the opening pair of Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam. Of which Babar Azam is in poor form as indicated by his performance in Asia Cup. Things are looking gloomy for Pakistan with Babar Azam not in good form and Shaheen Afridi absent due to Injury.

In the end I would like to say with England winning the last Twenty20 series 2-1 in 2021 against Pakistan. England are the clear favourites over Pakistan in this series too.

Pakistan's performance in Asia Cup 2022

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Pakistan's performance in Asia Cup was good as they reached the final of Asia Cup 2022.  This was Pakistan's best performance in Asia Cup since  the  2014  Asia Cup as they were runners up in 2022 Asia Cup. In 2016 Asia Cup they failed to go beyond first round and in 2018 Asia Cup they were eliminated in super four losing to India and Bangladesh.

Pakistan won after a good chase in the super four clash against India. Against Afghanistan they faltered chasing a target of 130 which was modest by any means. They were reduced to 118 for 9 at                          one stage before Naseem Shah struck two sixes to rescue Pakistan and become a national hero.           Pakistan defeated Afghanistan by just one wicket in the super four to reach the final of the tournament.

Pakistan were  unlucky  in the final that Fakhar Zaman got out early as he is one batsman who scores his runs quickly. He is the only clean striker and hitter in the Pakistani  batting line up.

Overall I would say that Pakistan did pretty well in the tournament as they defeated arch rivals India on the route to the final against Sri Lanka. Had Pakistan restricted Sri Lanka  to a modest total  of 130 or 140 runs after restricting them to 68 for 5 at one stage Pakistan would have probably won the tournament.