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Pakistan vs England, 4th ODI Preview and Predictions: Rampant hosts eye another big victory

With the series already been decided, England will still try to run over their opponents in the remaining two matches with an aim to whitewash the series.

Alex Hales’ 171 sealed the series for England and now they will be looking for a whitewash © Getty Images

England and Pakistan clash again for the fourth time in the ongoing One-Day International (ODI) with the series already in hosts’ pocket. England demolished the visitors by a whopping margin of 169 runs in a run-fest at Trent Bridge. Winning the toss and batting first, everything clicked for the home side with the team piling on ODI cricket’s highest run score, 444 for 3, and dismissing Pakistan for 275. Alex Hales made Pakistan pay for an ordinary bowling as he took on everyone and blasted 171, his highest ODI score to seal the fate of the series. FULL CRICKET SCORECARD: Pakistan vs England, 4th ODI at Leeds

With the series already been decided, England will still try to run over their opponents in the remaining two matches with an aim to whitewash the series. Pakistan have nowhere looked close to competing with England in coloured clothing as they have been dominated throughout the series. They lost the series opener by 44 runs (D/L method), lost the second one by four wickets and completely had an off day at Edgbaston. They have been clueless with the ball, batters have not lived up to expectations and fielding has been ordinary. Nothing has clicked for them as a unit and they will hope for a turn of things to redeem some pride in the series.

Pakistan – Problems aplenty for visitors: For the No. 9 side in ODIs, Pakistan have lots to ponder upon if they want to climb up the ladder. If we compare the other top-ranked teams in ODIs, Sri Lanka are regrouping, Australia, India, South Africa, New Zealand are undoubtedly strong and going fairly well. West Indies are going strong in Twenty20 (T20s) only but Pakistan have struggled, off-late, in both shorter formats. Their T20 record is not bad at all, but in ODIs they are not going anywhere. Their unpredictability factor has also diminished as, more or less, they lose against top teams. ALSO READ: Highest total by England and 12 more statistical highlights from England-Pakistan 3rd ODI at Trent Bridge

If they do not stand up on time, they may have another horrible outing in the next ICC event, i.e. ICC Champions Trophy, which is less than a year away (in England). Their batting order lacked steam against the seaming balls off England’s bowlers. To top it all, their line-up is still not fixed and constant changes have made their task tough. Mohammad Hafeez is out of the series due to injury but is also going through a bad phase. Azhar Ali is not as consistent as he is in Tests. They do not have a player in the top-order who can hold one end and play a big innings.

Sharjeel Khan is a promising talent and Pakistan need to back him up as an aggressive player like him won’t be very consistent but can turn the tides immediately when he gets going. What Pakistan should ideally do in the remaining matches is stick to a batting order and see how everything shapes up. They have nothing to lose so this can work well for them. Sarfraz Ahmed is their only complete player who does not gets bogged down by a few dots balls and paces his innings well.

Shoaib Malik has been their seasoned player for long and should ideally be at No. 4 or No. 5 instead of No. 6.  In the bowling department, Umar Gul’s comeback has not shown ideal result whereas Mohammad Aamer is not getting much support from others. Wahab Riaz conceded 110 runs from 10 overs in the third ODI which shows England have picked him up easily. A brief break might work well for him.  Hasan Ali and Mohammad Nawaz are new and their preening depends on how well Azhar uses them.

Nawaz is a good batsman and maybe considered up the order as well. Sami Aslam could not do much in the last two ODIs and will like to play more freely now that series is done and dusted.  Babar Azam is a dependable batsman and will have to convert his starts into big scores. The more freely they play, the more runs they will be able to score.  Azhar has to look after all departments and make his side more confident. His changes in bowling needs to improve and needs to be watchful about his batting line-up as well. They can try and experiment from now on keeping in mind about the future assignments and not be afraid of the final scoreline of this series.

England- Making a strong statement with every series: Eoin Morgan’s side have moved from strength to strength since the thrashing they received in ICC Cricket World Cup 2015. Pakistan need to regroup and can look at England’s graph in shorter formats since 2015. Morgan’s side have got aggressive players (like Jason Roy, Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes) who are not afraid of playing their shots, they know how to pace the innings and bowlers are capable of assessing the conditions apart from bowling in good lines. ALSO READ: PAK vs ENG 2016, 3rd ODI: Hales’ 171, England’s 444-5, other highlights

The team and their skipper’s handling of things have improved since their home series win against New Zealand in 2015 and seem on the right track. They have good all-rounders with Chris Woakes being in the form of his life and have other strike bowlers as well. England have a batsman who can bat, in the form of Joe Root whereas they have a bowler who can bat like Adil Rashid and Liam Plunkett. They will like to keep things simple and go for the kill in the final two ODIs for a whitewash. The momentum is with them and current form of both teams suggests that a before moving to Cardiff for the series finale, England may get 4-0 up. For now, if everything is clicking for England, nothing is going for Pakistan.

England will go for complete demolition whereas Pakistan will treat this defeat as a learning curve and start the building process soon. However, there are also chances of slight showers which may dent the game a bit. Nonetheless, England continue to look favourites but an improved performance from the Men in Green will be expected. Will they get their first win of the series at Leeds?

Squads:

Pakistan: Sami Aslam, Sharjeel Khan, Azhar Ali(c), Babar Azam, Sarfraz Ahmed(wk), Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Nawaz, Hasan Ali, Wahab Riaz, Yasir Shah, Mohammad Amir, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Rizwan, Umar Gul

England: Jason Roy, Alex Hales, Joe Root, Jos Buttler(wk), Eoin Morgan(c), Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid, Liam Plunkett, Mark Wood, David Willey, Chris Jordan, Liam Dawson

Time: 14:00 local | 13:00 GMT | 18:30 IST

(Aditya Sahay is a journalist with CricketCountry who is completely into sports and loves writing about cricket in general. He can be followed on Twitter at adisahay7)

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