Pakistan opts to bat first against England at T20 World Cup

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PALLEKELE, Sri Lanka (AP) — Pakistan won the toss against England and elected to bat first in the Twenty20 World Cup Super Eights game on Tuesday.

“It looks like a good pitch. We want to put up an above-par score and defend that,” Pakistan captain Salman Ali Agha said.

England started the second round with a resounding 51-run win over co-host Sri Lanka at the same venue last Sunday while Pakistan’s opening game against New Zealand was washed out in Colombo.

England has a lot of knowledge about the conditions in Pallekele, where it has won all four T20s over the last few weeks, including a 3-0 series win against Sri Lanka before the tournament.

Pakistan batters have been struggling in the tournament and, except for opener Sahibzada Farhan, the World Cup leading run-scorer with 220, no one else has scored more than 100 runs.

Pakistan left out allrounder Faheem Ashraf and brought back fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi while mystery spinner Usman Tariq was preferred over leg-spinner Abrar Ahmed.

England captain Harry Brook hoped the “fresh pitch” would play better for chasing.

England named the same XI for the fifth match in a row in the tournament, staying faithful to struggling opener Jos Buttler.

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Lineups:

Pakistan: Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha (captain), Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Shadab Khan, Usman Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Shaheen Afridi, Salman Mirza, Usman Tariq.

England: Phil Salt, Jos Buttler, Jacob Bethell, Tom Banton, Harry Brook (captain), Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Liam Dawson, Jamie Overton, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid.

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AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket