After many discussions and back-and-forth deliberation, the Pakistan tour of England 2020 has finally been confirmed. Although all of the matches will be played behind closed doors due to COVID-19, there is no denying that both Pakistanis and British are looking forward to this upcoming series.
The series is going to consist of both test matches and T20 matches so there is going to be plenty of action for the fans to enjoy from the comfort of their homes. Pakistan Team was also supposed to pay visit to Netherlands for three ODI matches and Ireland for two T20 matches, however, all of those are postponed due to COVID-19 pandemic.
Pakistan Tour of England Schedule
In this updated tour, Pakistan and England will first play three Test matches and three T20 matches. This test series will be a part of the inaugural 2019-2021 ICC World Test Championship. Here are the details
Test Match Schedule
| 1st Test | 5–9 August 2020 | Old Trafford, Manchester |
| 2nd Test | 13–17 August 2020 | Rose Bowl, Southampton |
| 3rd Test | 21–25 August 2020 | Rose Bowl, Southampton |
T20 Match Schedule
| 1st T20 | 28 August 2020 | Rose Bowl, Southampton |
| 2nd T20 | 30 August 2020 | Rose Bowl, Southampton |
| 3rd T20 | 1 September 2020 | Rose Bowl, Southampton |
Pakistan’s Squad for the Tour
Haider Ali named in 29-player squad for England tourhttps://t.co/dFPFK8lV9v pic.twitter.com/iMaRbOjHf4
— PCB Media (@TheRealPCBMedia) June 12, 2020
Pakistan Cricket Boar or PCB announced the squad for Pakistan tour of England 2020 on 12 June. In the announcement, PCB also named Babar Azam as T20 captain and Azhar Ali as Test captain. The complete 29 member squad for the tour is:
- Azhar Ali (c, Tests)
- Babar Azam (c, T20Is)
- Mohammad Abbas
- Shaheen Afridi
- Iftikhar Ahmad
- Sarfaraz Ahmed
- Fawad Alam
- Abid Ali
- Haider Ali
- Faheem Ashraf
- Kashif Bhatti
- Mohammad Hafeez
- Mohammad Hasnain
- Imran Khan
- Shadab Khan
- Sohail Khan
- Shoaib Malik
- Shan Masood
- Haris Rauf
- Wahab Riaz
- Mohammad Rizwan
- Asad Shafiq
- Khushdil Shah
- Naseem Shah
- Yasir Shah
- Usman Shinwari
- Imam-ul-Haq
- Imad Wasim
- Fakhar Zaman
Bilal Asif, Imran Butt, Musa Khan and Mohammad Nawaz are reserve players for the tour. Team England has yet to announce their squad for the series.
Background Information on the Series
Just a day before the squad was announced, PCB announced that left-hand batsman Haris Sohail and fast-bowler Mohammad Amir will not be available for the tour for personal reasons. After taking a break from red-ball cricket in September 2019, Wahab Riaz said he would be available to play Test cricket once again. Shoaib Malik will miss the first four weeks of training in England will join the squad on 24 July.
The Pakistan team will reach England for the series 28 June, where the team will be under 14-day quarantine as per UK government policy. Malik will comply with the same policy after arriving in the country. The Pakistani squad will be in Derbyshire where they will practice and train for the upcoming mega event.
They will also play intra-squad practice matches as the local teams will not be available to play due to the fact that domestic cricket season has not yet begun in England. The tour is expected to be loads of fun for both sides. Only time will tell will happen next. In the meantime, the fans are anticipating a great contest between the two world cup winning teams.
