Pakistan vs England 4th ODI Preview: Advantage England as Pakistan look to draw the series at Dubai

Pakistan vs England 4^th ODI Preview: Advantage England as Pakistan look to draw the series at Dubai: After an emphatic victory over the hosts in the third ODI, the English team has the favorites tag going into the final ODI of the series. Pakistan, meanwhile, will look to make amends to their mediocre form in the limited overs at UAE, and try to draw level in the series.

The 4^th ODI will be played at the Dubai International cricket stadium at Dubai, UAE. Going into the final ODI of this exciting series, here’s a look at the teams.

England

The English team will be quite pleased with their performance over the last couple of months in the shorter format. But this series, their first outside England after the disastrous world cup campaign, has been a clear indication of their caliber in the shorter formats, even in foreign conditions.

All the batsmen have come to the party at one point or another. While the likes of James Taylor and Eoin Morgan have been impressive throughout the series, the other batsmen have done well in patches. The minor blip is the form of Joe Root, who was slightly below par considering his standards. But the batting order, especially after the performance of the lower middle order in the 3^rd ODI, looks very good.

The bowling looks equally impressive, with the surprising emergence of Chris Woakes as the leading wicket taker. Both Topley and Willey have been exceptionally good with the new ball, whereas the spinners have chipped in with important wickets.

The entire team looks like a well-oiled unit post consecutive victories, and are favorites going into the final ODI.

Pakistan

The Pakistanis were struck with the same old problem following their comprehensive victory in the first ODI.

Azhar Ali’s captaincy is under the spotlight following some eyebrow-raising decisions after the first ODI. Lack of form withstanding, Ali has been shuffling with the team composition and batting order too frequently to allow some inconsistency creep into the team. While the middle order batsmen have failed at the crucial junctures, the top order, for the exception of 3^rd ODI, have failed to make a big impact in the series.

The bowling unit looks good, but the batsmen’s shortages have left them with insufficient leverage to work with. While the pace attack led by Irfan has been quite impressive, the spin attack, especially in the absence of Yasir Shah in the 3^rd ODI, looked unthreatening.

It will be interesting as to whether Ali will make further changes going into the 4^th ODI. Will he bring in Ahmed Shahzad? Or go with the same combination.  The odds are heavily against the home team, in spite of home conditions and past experience at the Dubai international stadium.

Pitch

The Dubai International cricket stadium, which is closest to the headquarters of ICC, does not have a reputation of being the most batsmen friendly of pitches, with just one 300+ score in the venue. And the venue has not been a good hunting ground for Pakistan, who have 6-8 losing record here. The English won both their matches at the venue, during their whitewash in 2011-12. One can expect a tight match with the scores hovering around 250.

Stats

58 : Number of runs Mohammad Hafeez needs to become the highest runs scorer at the venue.

7: Number of wickets Mohammad Irfan has taken in the venue, in 3 matches.

1 : Number of series victories Pakistan has in their last 10 series played at UAE.

241/6 : England’s highest total at the venue, scored while chasing.

1000 : Number of international runs James Taylor has scored in his career, going into the final ODI.

2 : Number of matches the visitors have played at the venue, and have won both of them.

Teams

England Squad

Moeen Ali, Reece Topley, Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, Chris Woakes, Jos Buttler, David Willey, Alex Hales, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Sam Billings, James Taylor, Eoin Morgan (C), Chris Jordan

Pakistan Squad

Ahmed Shehzad, Zafar Gohar, Azhar Ali (C), Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Irfan, Anwar Ali, Younis Khan, Sarfraz Ahmed, Yasir Shah, Babar Azam, Wahab Riaz, Rahat Ali, Aamer Yamin, Mohammad Rizwan, Shoaib Malik, Bilal Asif

Get HD live streaming for the 4th and last match of the ODI series between Pakistan & England at Cricketgateway.com

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