England have opted to bowl first in their first ODI against Pakistan in Pakistan after more than two decades on Tuesday during the ongoing Tri-series at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium. In the first game of the tri-series, Pakistan rode on a hundred from Salman Ali Agha to defeat Sri Lanka.
England are coming into this series on the back of a 4-0 drubbing of India at home. The last time England played in Pakistan was in December 2005, at this same ground. England, led by then-captain Marcus Trescothick, won the game by six runs against a Younis Khan-led side.
Post that 2005 ODI against Pakistan, England played thrice on Pakistani in 2025, against Australia, Afghanistan and South Africa, which were a part of ICC Champions Trophy 2025, which Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) was hosting. In the 2025 , India played their matches in Dubai, due to the political differences between the two countries.
England captain Harry Brook won the toss and sent Pakistan to bat first. While the hosts went unchanged, England recalled Adil Rashid and Sam Curran from injuries. “We’re going to have a bowl tonight. We feel like dew might play a factor in the second innings, so hopefully we can restrict them to a low total and chase it down,” Brook said at the toss.
The toss loss didn’t matter to Pakistan captain . “For last game we also batted first, so I think it will be not different. The boys playing already on this wicket, second T20, had 200 in that game as well. So we’ll see how first ten overs gone and then we go for a big total,” he said.
England: Tom Banton, Ben Duckett, Joe Root, Harry Brook(c), Jordan Cox(w), Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Jamie Overton, Gus Atkinson, Adil Rashid, Sonny Baker
Pakistan: Fakhar Zaman, Saim Ayub, Babar Azam, Saad Baig(w), Salman Agha, Hasan Nawaz, Arafat Minhas, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Afridi(c), Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf
Meanwhile, star England batter is on a verge of becoming the first English player to reach the 8,000 ODI runs mark. The right-hander is just 97 runs away from the milestone. Root, England’s highest ODI run-getter, has made 7,903 runs in 195 matches with 20 centuries and 48 fifties.
England’s second and third-highest run-getters in ODIs are former World Cup winning skipper Eoin Morgan (6,957 runs in 225 matches with 13 centuries) and Jos Buttler (5,678 runs in 204 matches with 11 centuries).
This year, Root is in exceptional form in ODIs, having made 573 runs in nine innings at an average of 114.60 and a strike rate of 88.01, with a century and five fifties to his name, with best score of 111 not out. The veteran batter also enjoyed a great 2025 in ODIs, with 808 runs in 15 ODIs with three centuries and four fifties.
