England announces playing XI for the Test series decider against Pakistan with two key changes

England has announced their playing XI for the third and final Test against Pakistan, which is set to begin on Thursday, October 24, at the Rawalpindi International Cricket Stadium in Rawalpindi. On Tuesday, October 22, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) made this announcement officially.

The English team has made two changes in the playing XI of the previous second Test at the Multan Cricket Stadium, where the Pakistan cricket team bounced back with a 152-run victory for the series decider. After the surprising defeat, England dropped the Durham duo Brydon Carse and Matthew Potts from the team.

The English team confirms Playing XI for the third and final Test against Pakistan

The 29-year-old bowling all-rounder Brydon Carse has been dropped from the English playing XI despite finishing with five wickets and 31 runs to his name in the second Test against Pakistan. However, the pacer Matthew Potts was not that effective in Multan, taking only three wickets.

Since the Multan pitch assisted the spinners a lot with Sajid Khan and Noman Ali snaring all 20 wickets in the second Test, the English team recalled the young leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed to the team for the ongoing three-match Test series decider at the Rawalpindi International Cricket Stadium.

After losing the first Test heavily, Pakistan opted for the turning track in Multan, and it was expected that the Rawalpindi would also be a rank turner, so England decided to go with a heavy spin attack, which will be led by Jack Leach.

England bets on spin for Rawalpindi encounter

Leach will have the helping hands of Rehan Ahmed and Shoaib Bashir. Notably, it will be Rehan’s first appearance since playing against India in Rajkot earlier this year. On the other hand, Matthew Potts made the way for the star seamer Gus Atkinson in the English team's playing XI for the third and final Test against Pakistan in Rawalpindi.

The rest of the line-up will be the same for the English team, as Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, and Jamie Smith will provide firepower with the bat, while the captain, Ben Stokes, is the only specialist all-rounder in the line-up for the Test series decider against Pakistan.

Here’s England's playing XI for the Rawalpindi Test:

Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (C), Jamie Smith, Gus Atkinson, Rehan Ahmed, Jack Leach, and Shoaib Bashir.

Harry Brook opens up about the Rawalpindi pitch

Meanwhile, the pitch in Rawalpindi is expected to be on the slower side, with efforts underway to remove any moisture from the wicket.

Some heaters and fans are set up to aid the drying process. Even during the England teams' training session on Tuesday, the fans were installed, but they hadn’t been used at all.

Harry Brook said about the pitch: “I think they’ve had the rakes out, and the fans and heaters on the pitch, so hopefully it’ll be a nice pitch for the first couple of days, and then we’re expecting it to turn at the back end of the game.”