England vs Pakistan 2020: 4 England players to watch out for in T20I series

England vs Pakistan Test Series in 2020 ended with a 1-0 win in favor of the home team England. Joe Root and Co closed their gap with second-ranked Australia in the ICC Test Championship table after winning the series. Now the focus shifts to the shortest form of the game where the two nations will go head to head in a three-match T20 series. The captains of both the teams will be changed along with most of the players.

In fact, England is going to field a completely different team where not a single player from the current Test team is a part of the 14-man T20I squad. Eoin Morgan will be in charge of the English team for the three matches that’ll be played at Old Trafford.

In terms of ICC rankings, England is second while Pakistan is at no.4. Both the teams played their last T20I series during pre-COVID times and both of them won it convincingly. So given the current form, this should a cracker of a series.

In this article, we will have a look at 4 England cricketers whose performance will be the one to watch out for in the series

4. Tom Banton

Tom Banton grabbed some attention during the T20 Blast 2019 season where he smashed 549 runs at a strike-rate of 161.67. This performance opened the doors to the T20 leagues all around the globe and also made his way into the national team in November 2019.

The 21-year-old has played six ODIs and three T20Is for England so far and his last international knock of 58 runs showed his potential at this level. A flamboyant stroke maker with some eye-catching shots in his arsenal, Banton is a classic modern-day batsman. His performance in the Big Bash League 09 is the testimony of it where he scored 223 runs at a whopping strike-rate of 176.98.

Baton batted for England mostly in the middle-order. With Jason Roy pulling out of this T20I series, the hard-hitting opener is expected to open the innings alongside Jonny Bairstow and will be one of the players to watch out for.

3. Eoin Morgan

Eoin Morgan’s form with the bat and his decision-making as the skipper of England will be crucial in the coming days as they prepare for the two consecutive T20 World Cups starting from next year.

Morgan has been in good form with the bat himself and has been piling on some runs at a great rate. He has played three T20Is this year and scored two half-centuries at an audacious strike-rate of 170.

England’s white-ball team is already high on confidence after becoming the World Champions in 2019 and now under the leadership of Morgan would like to add another T20 World Cup trophy to the cabinet. So the 33-year-old will have a crucial role if they want to achieve another world title.

2. Moeen Ali

Moeen Ali has grown by leaps and bounds as a cricketer. He made his debut primarily as an off-spinner but now is one of the most valuable all-rounders in world cricket, particularly in the 50-over format.

A very elegant looking left-handed batsman and an orthodox off-spinner, Ali has become an indispensable part of the English side. The 33-year-old has played 60 Tests and 105 ODIs for his country and has 8 centuries combined in both the format.

But T20 is the one format that Moeen Ali has still not excelled yet, at least his stats suggests so. In 28 T20Is he has scored 284 runs at an average of 15.77 and managed to take only 16 wickets and economy rate also on the higher side of 8.60.

With the T20 World Cup next year Moeen Ali must step up and perform in every T20I series that comes his way. So the Pakistan series is like a lifeline for Ali to ensure his place in the T20 squad for future projects.

1. Jonny Bairstow

Jonny Bairstow and Jason Roy have formed one of the best opening pairs that England has ever produced in limited-overs cricket. A World Cup title is proof of that fact. Both of them are very aggressive at the top and don’t allow the opposition bowlers to settle in.

Bairstow is one of the main impetus of England’s all-attack theory in white-ball cricket. His attacking batsmanship in recent times has been witnessed at the world stage and also in the IPL where he has become a force to reckon with.

It has been a hot and cold year for the 30-year-old so far in the limited-overs format. He is averaging 30 in ODI cricket and 40.67 in T20Is in the year 2020. So consistency is lacking for the Yorkshire lad.

But his strike rate of 145.63 in ODIs and 174.29 in T20Is this year has made Jonny Bairstow one of the players to look forward to in the series. If he continues to bat as his strike-rate suggests then we are in for a real treat in the three-match series.

~ Written by Vaskar Gautam