Sharjah: Pakistan elected to bat first after winning toss against Scotland in Sharjah in its last match of Super 12 rounds of ICC T-20 world cup.
Pakistan are unchanged, while Scotland have two changes: Macleod, Evans out; Tahir, Budge in, ESPN Cricinfo reported.
“We want to bat first, put a total and put pressure on them. We are not complacent. We are looking to carry on with our momentum. Same team,” said Pakistan skipper Babar Azam said after he won the toss.
“People back home love cricket a lot and they are supporting us. We are trying to make them happy with our performances,” he added.
Meanwhile, Scotland captain Kyle Coetzer said: “We’ve been looking forward to these games and we’ll be going out there today to give our best. We have to test ourselves against the best.”
“Coming into the tournament, we came in believing that we are capable of competing against the best and we’ll still believe that. But we have to go through these kinds of tests. Hopefully in our journey we’ve inspired a few people in Scotland and around the world too,” he added.
Pakistan win toss, elect to bat first.#PAKvSCO | #T20WorldCup | #WeHaveWeWill pic.twitter.com/17hGoov0Mz
— Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) November 7, 2021
Pakistan’s incredible run in the opening days of the tournament mean they were the first team to confirm their place in the semi-final, and also the only ones able to relax at the business end of the Super 12 stage.
Now, having enjoyed a break of four days, they can use the match against Scotland to get back into tournament mode and polish their plans ahead of the knockout stages.
Although their place in the top two is confirmed, a win here will ensure they finish first in Group 2, and take on the second place finisher in Group 1 in the semis.
For Scotland, it’s another chance to learn from the best. Since their win against Bangladesh in their first game of round one, they haven’t been able to challenge the higher ranked sides as consistently as they might have liked in the Super 12 stage.
After showing good fight against New Zealand, they were swept away by India. But they are hungry to improve.
Teams
Pakistan: 1 Babar Azam (capt), 2 Mohammad Rizwan (wk), 3 Fakhar Zaman, 4 Mohammad Hafeez, 5 Shoaib Malik, 6 Asif Ali, 7 Shadab Khan, 8 Imad Wasim, 9 Hasan Ali, 10 Haris Rauf, 11 Shaheen Shah Afridi
Scotland: 1 George Munsey, 2 Kyle Coetzer (capt), 3 Dylan Budge, 4 Richie Berrington, 5 Michael Leask, 6 Matthew Cross (wk), 7 Chris Greaves, 8 Mark Watt, 9 Safyaan Sharif, 10 Hamza Tahir, 11 Brad Wheal
