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2019 Cricket World Cup: Dominant England to take on bruised Pakistan today

England will believe that it is just a stepping stone on their way to the knock-out stages ahead after they registered a 104-run win over South Africa at the World Cup opening game.

2019 Cricket World Cup: Dominant England to take on bruised Pakistan today

The ICC World Cup Trophy (Photo: AFP)

In Match 6 of ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, England will face Pakistan at Trent Bridge, Nottingham on Monday. Given what has happened in the World Cup so far, both the teams stand poles apart from each other.

England will believe that it is just a stepping stone on their way to the knock-out stages ahead after they registered a 104-run win over South Africa at the World Cup opening game on Thursday (May 30, 2019).

On the other side is Pakistan. Having been bundled out for just 105 runs against West Indies, the men in green have a tough task ahead. Pakistan has lost 11 games in a row now, including a 4-0 defeat from England in a bilateral series and to out-perform the same opposition at the World Cup stage will be a tough task for them.

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While their bowling has been in decent form, it is their batsmen who have let the team down in recent times. Against an England bowling attack led by Jofra Archer, the Pakistani batsmen will have to be at their best to have any hopes of a campaign revival with this match.

England may come out with the same Playing 11 against Pakistan as all the players look in fine touch. There haven’t been any injury concerns either. It is Pakistan who might look to chop and change after their batting order’s weakness against the short ball was exposed by the West Indies bowling attack.

The first match of the competition for Pakistan was them at their worst: feeble, tentative and clueless. It was one of the most dreary days in the historical backdrop of Pakistan at the World Cup – and undoubtedly, Pakistan have had a lot of those.

Their apparent surrender against a short bowling storm from West Indies implies they can expect much the same from England pacers who will keep them on the back foot all day long.

But if Pakistan played their worst cricket in the first game, they can only improve from here. And a win against a side like England might just taste sweeter post the nature of defeat against West Indies.

England and Pakistan have another thing in common. For both the teams, the 1992 World Cup was the last successful World Cup campaign. While England was beaten by a Pakistan side, who had started off as poorly as this one, in the finals, for Pakistan it remains their only World Cup win till date.

However, England will look to go one step ahead, 27 years later and if the same Pakistan turns up on the field like the one on Friday against West Indies, their job will become a lot easier.

The teams will meet at the Trent Bridge Stadium. The match is scheduled to begin at 3:00 pm (IST).

Squads:

England: Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan(c), Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler(w), Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Liam Plunkett, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood, Tom Curran, James Vince, Liam Dawson

Pakistan: Imam-ul-Haq, Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam, Haris Sohail, Sarfaraz Ahmed(w/c), Mohammad Hafeez, Imad Wasim, Shadab Khan, Hasan Ali, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Amir, Shoaib Malik, Shaheen Afridi, Asif Ali, Mohammad Hasnain

Where to view: Exclusive broadcast in India on Star Sports Network and Hotstar, in the UK on Sky Sports.

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