Scotland may be the Associate nation, but they’re not the only ones who will benefit from this series…
Pakistan and Scotland are set to play two T20 Internationals on the 12th and 13th of June in Edinburgh. This will be the first time Scotland will be playing a home T20I against a full member side. The last time both sides met was in the 2007 ICC World T20 tournament group stage. Shahid Afridi’s all-round performance helped Pakistan win that match by a comfortable 51 runs.
This short series is of value to the Associate nation, who will get a chance to play against the number one T20I side on home soil. Scotland will be looking to seize this opportunity and showcase their potential to the cricketing world. The series will follow Scotland’s lone ODI against England on the 10th of June. England is, at present, the highest ranked team in the format according to the ICC rankings. It is not every day that Associate nations get a chance to play against full member sides, and it will now be up to Scotland to soak up the special occasion’s offerings.
Scotland go big against England! https://t.co/qDR8CNERTl pic.twitter.com/hwToeWel4X
— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) June 10, 2018
Pakistan, on the other hand, will be looking to get attuned to the format through this series. After losing an opportunity to win the test series against England, they will hope to boost their morale with the two matches in the shorter format. This series will also help them prepare for the upcoming matches against Zimbabwe and Australia. For the encounters, Pakistan have retained most of their squad from the series held against West Indies in April. The injured Babar Azam, however, has been replaced by Haris Sohail. This means Sohail will now have a chance to push himself to obtain a permanent position in the national T20 squad by impressing the selectors with his performance.
This series will also give emerging Pakistani players like Hussain Talat, Asif Ali, and Shaheen Afridi, who debuted earlier this year in Karachi, a chance to play on the English soil. After performing well in PSL3 and in the series against West Indies, they will be looking forward to making their presence felt once again. Talat, who was named the man of the match in his debut match, will be keen on bagging a couple more awards.
Both sides are looking forward to facing each other after 11 years. Kyle Coetzer is keen on showing the strides his group has made in the game, while Sarfaraz Ahmed and his men want to use this chance to warm-up for the tougher series to come. Let’s wait for the 12th and 13th to see how each team capitalizes on the opportunity at hand.