6 Big questions for England to answer ahead of the Pakistan series

6 Big questions for England to answer ahead of the Pakistan series: After the Ashes, England are set to face a much tougher challenge as they take on Pakistan in a 3-Test series. The scars of their last encounter with Pakistan in the middle east would be firmly haunting them. Back in 2012, just months after becoming the world’s No.1 Test side, England went to the UAE to play Pakistan and were promptly dismantled.

Pakistan are on a high having defeated Sri Lanka in an away series recently and will be the clear favourites this time as well. But Alastair Cook has shown that England are ready to change their approach to playing spin and willing to learn from their mistakes. An example was the 2012 tour of India on which the English famously won the Test series 2-1.

Playing Asian teams on turning pitches has always been the final frontier for England teams and this new bunch have a lot to prove.

1. Can Moeen Ali be a success at the top of the order?

Moeen Ali is widely expected to become Alastair Cook’s seventh opening partner since the retirement of Andrew Strauss in 2012. So far, Michael Carberry, Jonathan Trott, Nick Compton, Joe Root, Sam Robson and Adam Lyth have tried and failed to make the opening berth their own in that period.

Ali was batting at the criminally low position of number eight as England juggled their batting line-up to accommodate an all-rounder this summer, and has now been shunted up to the top. The position continues to be a problem for England, and if the left hander can plunder a load of runs over the course of the series, it will provide a much-needed relief for the selectors.