Pakistan v World XI, 2017: T20I series – Statistical Preview

The Independence Cup comprising three T20I matches between Pakistan and the World XI selected by the International Cricket Council (ICC) is set to take off from Tuesday at the Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium. The series is conducted by ICC to revive International cricket in Pakistan and thus the series has been awarded the T20I status. Many players on either side will get their first taste of an International contest on Pakistan soil.

Here we look at all the key stats and numbers ahead of the series.

1 – The Pakistan v World XI series will be the maiden fixture in T20I cricket which is not between two nations. So far, Asia XI v Rest of World XI in an ODI, Asia XI v Africa XI in six ODIs and Australia v World XI in three ODIs and a Test have been played but none in the T20 format.

3 – Number of World XI squad players who have featured in an International game in Pakistan. Only Paul Collingwood, Hashim Amla, and Tamim Iqbal have got the chance of playing in an International game in Pakistan so far. Imran Tahir, who hails from Pakistan, has played in the domestic circuit while Darren Sammy played in the PSL final earlier this year.

3 – Number of T20I matches Pakistan have played at home so far – One against Bangladesh and two against Zimbabwe. The home team has won all the three games.

4 – Number of World XI squad players who have not played any International cricket in the last one year. Grant Elliot and Darren Sammy’s last International outing was in the WT20 2016 while Paul Collingwood last played in the 2011 World Cup and Ben Cutting in November 2014. George Bailey too hasn’t played recently as his last International appearance was in November 2016.

5 – Number of International matches World XI has played so far – a Test and three ODIs against Australia and an ODI against Asia XI. They lost all four against Australia but defeated Asia XI.

6 – Number of Pakistan players who have an International game at home. Only Shoaib Malik, Sarfraz Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Sohail Khan, Babar Azam and Ahmed Shehzad have played an International match at home previously.

13 – All the World XI players in the squad except Ben Cutting have played in a T20I against Pakistan. All these 13 players collectively have an experience of 74 T20Is against the Pakistani team.

98 – Number of wickets Mohammad Amir owns in Twenty20 cricket. He needs two more wickets to complete 100 T20 wickets.

974 – Runs Fakhar Zaman has scored in Twenty20 cricket so far. He needs 26 more runs to complete 1000 runs in this format.