Pakistan have been in blistering form of late as they continued their winning ways into the ODI series after defeating England in the Test arena. Pakistan defeated England in the first ODI by six wickets in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.
With it, Pakistan have taken a 1-0 lead in the four-match ODI series and will be keen to increase their lead to an unassailable 2-0 when they square off in the second ODI in Abu Dhabi on Friday.
England players need to come up with a better performance in the second ODI, especially their batsmen, who looked in all sorts of problems against the strong-looking Pakistan bowling attack. England were tottering at three down 14 runs, but skipper Eoin Morgan and James Taylor helped bring some stability in the middle order with a knock of 76 and 60 runs, respectively.
However, with England losing the key wickets of Morgan and Taylor, the visitors once again crumbled and were all out for 216 runs, failing to even play out the allotted 50 overs.
Pakistan, who were set an easy total to chase, did not start brightly, losing their first two wickets for 15 runs. Reece Topley bowled brilliantly as he finished the game with three scalps and was one of the major highlights for England. Pakistan were able to chase down the score with the help of Mohammad Hafeez's century.
The first ODI did show Pakistan as a stronger side, but there were some positives from the match for England, especially the batting performance of Morgan and Taylor. Topley was the standout bowler. These players will be required to come up with a similar performance in the second ODI in Abu Dhabi on Friday.
Other batsmen, primarily Alex Hales and Joe Root, need to be in top form at the top of the order. If they players get their act together and score runs, their middle-order batsmen, including Morgan, Taylor and Jos Buttler, can bank upon the start and help England put up a decent score.
Despite Pakistan's victory, skipper Azhar Ali, who scored 8 runs in the first ODI, needs to lead from the front and other batsmen such as Shoaib Mailk and Bilal Asif need to deliver with the willow in the second ODI.
Pakistan vs England 2nd ODI schedule
Date – 13 November
Time – 3pm local time (4:30 pm IST, 11 am GMT, 4 pm PKT)
Venue -Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi
TV listings: Ten Network (India), PTV (Pakistan), Sky Sports (UK)
