England, playing flamboyant cricket under captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum, will experience Pakistan conditions for the first time in 17 years when the first Test begins in Rawalpindi on Thursday.
Under Stokes and former New Zealand great McCullum, England have won six of their past seven home Tests playing a style of cricket dubbed “Bazball” after the coach’s moniker.
That followed a miserable run of only one victory in 17 Tests, including a 4-0 drubbing in the Ashes in Australia, which led to the dismissal of head coach Chris Silverwood and the replacement of Joe Root as captain by Ben Stokes.
McCullum concedes that low and sluggish grounds in Pakistan, where England last played a Test in 2005, present a distinct challenge.
Due to security concerns, Pakistan has played the majority of its home Tests over the past two decades on neutral grounds, typically in the United Arab Emirates.
McCullum stated during a news conference, “We recognize the magnitude of the challenge in front of us, but that’s terrific because that’s why you want to play the game.
“However, if the opportunity to play aggressive and offensive cricket presents itself, we will strive to seize it.”
This year, England’s new strategy enabled them to chase down objectives 277, 299, 296, and 378 with ease to win Tests.
However, they have only won two of the 22 Tests they have played in Pakistan while losing four and drawing the remaining 16.
Seam spearhead James Anderson, who traveled with England in 2005 but did not play a Test, will have to use his 667 wickets of experience to bring life to the expected sluggish fields since express pace bowler Mark Wood is ruled out due to a hip ailment.
The root will lead an inexperienced batting lineup against Pakistan’s new spin attack, which consists of left-armer Nauman Ali and uncapped duo Zahid Mahmood and Abrar Ahmed.
Shaheen out
The host squad will be without attack bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi, who has been ruled out of the series with a knee injury, and veteran spinner Yasir Shah, who has been dropped due to poor form.
Naseem Shah, who has played 13 Tests, will lead an inexperienced pace attack, with Haris Rauf and Mohammad Wasim Junior set to make their Test debuts.
“I’m looking forward to embarking on this trip with our brilliant group of players,” said the team’s captain, Babar Azam.
If Pakistan wins the series 2-0, they will move from fifth to second in the World Test Championship, with a remaining home series against New Zealand. Two of the top nine teams will compete for the championship next year.
England is eighth and out of playoff contention.
Pakistan may create a more result-oriented pitch at the Rawalpindi stadium after it yielded 1,187 runs with only 14 wickets lost in a boring draw against Australia earlier this year.
This pitch was deemed “below average” by the umpire and characterized as “dead” by the Australian batter, Steve Smith.
If the ground spins, England will rely on the expertise of left-armer Jack Leach and may even send in uncapped leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed, who was rushed into the team last week after being named a reserve.
In the last four years, Leach has taken 28 wickets in Sri Lanka and 18 in India on Asian pitches.
