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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan T20 captain Salman Ali Agha has expressed confidence in the team’s “fine” blend of youth and experience as they take on the West Indies in the United States for a three-match series starting Aug. 1, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said this week.

The three T20Is, beginning on Thursday, July 31 (1 August, 5 am Pakistan Standard Time) at the Central Broward Park and Broward County Stadium in Florida is the first meeting between the two teams in T20Is since December 2021.

The second and third T20I are scheduled to take place on 2 and 3 August at the same venue with the first ball slated to be bowled at 8pm local time (3 and 4 August, 5 am Pakistan Standard Time).

“We have a fine blend of youth and experience in our squad, and it is highly productive that we are going into yet another T20 series as the build-up toward the T20 World Cup picks up pace,” Agha said. 

Pakistan’s T20 squad comprises experienced cricketers such as Fakhar Zaman, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf along with youngsters Abrar Ahmed, Hassan Nawaz, Sahibzada Farhan, Sufyan Moqim and Saim Ayub. 

“We are really looking forward to playing at this wonderful venue and our time here so far has been exciting,” the Pakistan captain said. “I feel the three T20 will also be entertaining and as a team we are eagerly looking forward to take the field.”

He added that Pakistan will need to play their best game to “outfox a formidable T20 side.”

The ODIs will be played at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Trinidad & Tobago on August 8, 10 and 12, with Mohammad Rizwan set to lead Pakistan as its captain.

Pakistan will take the field in Lauderhill for the second time, having previously defeated Ireland by three wickets at the same venue during the ICC T20 World Cup 2024.

Pakistan has won 15 out of 21 T20s played against the West Indies, while the hosts have won three matches, with three ending without a result.

Pakistan and the West Indies will be looking to bounce back from their recent T20I series defeats against Bangladesh and Australia, respectively.

PAKISTAN SQUADS:

ODI: Mohammad Rizwan (captain), Salman Ali Agha (vice-captain), Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Hasan Ali, Hasan Nawaz, Hussain Talat, Mohammad Haris (wicket-keeper), Mohammad Nawaz, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Sufyan Moqim

T20I: Salman Ali Agha (captain), Abrar Ahmed, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Hasan Nawaz, Hussain Talat, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Haris (wicket-keeper), Mohammad Nawaz, Sahibzada Farhan (wicket-keeper), Saim Ayub, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Sufyan Moqim

LONDON: England took two early wickets in the fifth and deciding Test against India at the Oval on Thursday, with the tourists 72-2 when a downpour led to an early lunch on the opening day.

Sai Sudharsan (25 not out) and prolific captain Shubman Gill (15 not out) then held firm in a match India must win to end a gripping series all square at 2-2.

Ollie Pope, leading England in place of injured captain Ben Stokes, won the toss on his Surrey home ground and unsurprisingly elected to field first in overcast conditions and on a green-tinged pitch.

It was not long before recalled Surrey paceman Gus Atkinson, one of four changes to the England team following last week’s drawn third Test at Old Trafford, had opener Yashasvi Jaiswal lbw for two.

England, however, had to overturn umpire Ahsan Raza’s original not out decision — the first time Pope had succeeded with a review as caretaker captain.

When rain forced the players off the field a few minutes before the scheduled lunch break, Atkinson had miserly figures of 1-7 in six overs.

With the floodlights piercing the gathering gloom in south London, runs proved hard to come by as Chris Woakes also kept things tight while taking the new ball.

And it was Woakes who struck next when opener KL Rahul, who has scored more than 500 runs the series, played on for 14 trying to cut a ball that was too close to him, leaving India 38-2.

His exit brought in Gill, enjoying a prolific debut campaign as India skipper.

The 25-year-old now needs just 38 more runs to overhaul Sunil Gavaskar’s all-time India series

record of 774 runs set against the West Indies in 1971.

Gill, fresh from his fourth hundred of the series in Manchester, was quickly into his stride with an elegant back-foot punch through the covers for four off recalled seamer Jamie Overton.

A schedule of five Tests in less than seven weeks has taken its toll, with both England and India making four changes to their teams at the Oval.

India left out paceman Jasprit Bumrah, who hurt his back earlier this year.