Southampton: In the third Test of the three-match series, England captain Joe Root won the toss and elected to bat first here at The Rose Bowl on Friday. England currently lead the series 1-0, thanks to their three-wicket win in the first Test.
The rain-affected second Test between England and Pakistan ended in a draw. England brought in Jofra Archer as they dropped Sam Curran from the XI as they want the former to "operate in short, sharp spells, and bowl fast".
In the third Test, too, there was a little delay in the toss as light shower drenched The Rose Bowl stadium. However, the good news is that Root and Pakistan skipper Azhar Ali didn't have to wait too long.
While England will look for a win to complete a back to back series win at home, Pakistan's aim will be to win the third Test and save the series.
Root said, "It looks a bit drier than the previous wicket, so we want to try and make most use of it first and exploit that later in the game."
Pakistan captain Azhar Ali also said that their first choice was to bat too, saying "it looks a very good track." Pakistan are unchanged. "We'll try to pick up early wickets and utiilise the conditions," Azhar says. "It's a very important game, must-win for us."
England (Playing XI): Rory Burns, Dominic Sibley, Zak Crawley, Joe Root(c), Ollie Pope, Jos Buttler(w), Chris Woakes, Dominic Bess, Jofra Archer, Stuart Broad, James Anderson
Pakistan (Playing XI): Shan Masood, Abid Ali, Azhar Ali(c), Babar Azam, Asad Shafiq, Fawad Alam, Mohammad Rizwan(w), Yasir Shah, Mohammad Abbas, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah
