Live: Pakistan win toss, decide to bat first against England in Manchester

Manchester: Pakistan team captain Azhar Ali have won the toss and decided to bat first against England in the first Test at Old Trafford in Manchester.

Pakistan have picked two leg-spinners Shadab Khan and Yasir Shah as hinted by head coach Misbah-ul-Haq two days back. England are unchanged from their last win against West Indies.

“We can’t control the weather but we are clear in our heads. We are going with two spinner and three pacers, with Shadab as an all-rounder,” Azhar said after winning the toss.

“You can not replace Test cricket with practice games, but we have prepared well and are looking forward to the encounter. Obviously, we are missing the crowd, we get a lot of support here, but hopefully, we can entertain them at home,” he added.

England’s captain Joe Root is not sure whether his main man Ben Stokes will bowl or not but pointed that his runs are always valuable for the side.

“We have tried to make the most of the practice days, we are unchanged, we would also probably have batted first. Ben is not quite 100% fit and it’s too big a risk, but his runs have been invaluable and he’s a huge part of the dressing room,” Root said.

Pakistan:

Shan Masood, Abid Ali, Azhar Ali (c), Babar Azam, Asad Shafiq, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Yasir Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Mohammad Abbas, Naseem Shah

England:

Dom Sibley, Rory Burns, Joe Root (c), Ben Stokes, Ollie Pope, Jos Buttler (wk), Chris Woakes, Dom Bess, Stuart Broad, Jofra Archer, James Anderson

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