Scotland Vs Pakistan: 1st T20I - Can Scotland Create Yet Another Upset?

Pakistan, the top-ranked Twenty20 International team, who won 17 of their last 20 games, will look to continue their dominance when they square off against new entrants Scotland in the first T20I of the two-match series at Edinburg on June 12 (Tuesday).

Meanwhile, Kyle Coetzer’s men have shown how little they fear to play against a top-ranked side like Men in Green.

Recently they defeated top-ranked ODI team England in a stellar of a game by six runs. However, Pakistan led by Sarfraz Ahmed had an average stint so far and will look to finish their United Kingdom (UK) tour on a high.

Scotland will be high on confidence after England win and will be eager to repeat a spirited performance.

The Scots will bank on Calum MacLeod, who is one of the best batsmen in the world against spin. His ability to sweep high-quality leg-spin came to notice a few days back against Afghanistan.

As a result, his tussle with Pakistan’s Shadab Khan will be intriguing to watch for the fans.

On the other hand, speculations are rising high over skipper Sarfraz’s form with both bat and the gloves. With 88 runs from eight innings on this tour, he will be anxious to leave the UK while having a bulk of runs in his kitty.

Left-arm pacer Mohammad Amir is doubtful for the series with a shoulder injury that appeared to be bothering him during the Headingley Test.

However, Sarfraz said Amir was fit to play but couldn’t assert that he would be in the playing XI. Besides that, there are no injury concerns for Pakistan.

For Scotland, Craig Wallace has replaced Preston Mommsen in the T20I squad and offers dynamic strokeplay, but Dylan Budge may get his T20I debut after his One-day International debut against England.

Have a look at the form guide

Scotland LWWWW (last five completed matches, most recent first)
Pakistan WWWWW

Pitch and conditions:

The boundaries have been pulled in, and the pitch is likely to heavily favour batsmen.

Earlier, Pakistan were forced to abort their training session early on Monday due to rain and some rain is likely to happen on match day, but not enough to pose a threat to an all-important contest.

Squad:

Pakistan: Fakhar Zaman, Ahmed Shehzad, Haris Sohail, Shoaib Malik, Asif Ali, Hussain Talat, Sarfraz Ahmed(c), Faheem Ashraf, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Amir, Hasan Ali, Rahat Ali, Usman Khan, Shaheen Afridi

Scotland: Kyle Coetzer(c), Richie Berrington, Dylan Budge, Matthew Cross, Alasdair Evans, Craig Wallace, Michael Leask, Calum MacLeod, Hamza Tahir, George Munsey, Safyaan Sharif, Chris Sole, Mark Watt, Bradley Wheal, Stu Whittingham

Stats and trivia

• This is Scotland’s first T20I since January 2017 in Dubai, where they lost to Ireland by 98 runs
• The first of Pakistan’s last 20 T20Is, of which they have won 17, was Babar Azam’s maiden game. He had been a part of every single game in the format for Pakistan since. But unfortunately misses out this series following fractured forearm.

Also read: Ishan Kishan replaces Sanju Samson in India A Squad