The seven-match One-Day International tri-nation series will begin from Sunday, 18 October at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium with the toss in all matches set to take place at 12.30pm PKT. England will then play their first match at the same venue on October 20 against hosts, while they will face Sri Lanka on October 22.
The action will move to Lahore for the last four matches including the 31 October final between the two best teams. Pakistan will be led by Shaheen Shah Afridi, who has so far captained the nation in 11 ODIs winning seven, while Harry Brook will be in-charge of England and Kusal Mendis will be leading Sri Lanka.
The ODI tri-series will be fourth such series featuring on Pakistan soil after it first hosted Australia and South in 1994, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe in 2004 and New Zealand and South Africa in 2025. Pakistan’s ODI squad assembled in Islamabad on Wednesday, October 14 and trained for the three days leading up to the series opener, while Sri Lanka’s ODI players arrived in the capital on October 12 and the team trained for the first time on October 14.
England arrived on October 16 and will have the chance to fine tune their preparations through three training sessions before their first game.
On the head-to-head front, Pakistan have won 96 ODI matches against Sri Lanka having played them 160 times in the format. One game was tied and four ended in no results. Against England, Pakistan have played 92 ODIs and won 32 as three ended in no result.
Pakistan have won three out of their last four ODI series having beaten South Africa 2-1, Sri Lanka 3-0 and Australia 2-1. The 2-1 loss against Bangladesh came in away series. England are coming into the series on hot streak of three back-to-back ODI series wins against Sri Lanka and India.
Sri Lanka won the three-match ODI series against West Indies 1-0 and went down against England.
Babar Azam, Joe Root and Kusal Mendis will be the batters to watch out for in the series as all three have scored lots of runs for their respective teams over the last one decade. Razaullah and Saad Baig are two uncapped players in Pakistan squad.
Shaheen Shah Afridi, Pakistan captain said, “We are excited to begin a busy One-Day Cricket season at our home and against two very good teams. The tri-series will be highly competitive given the presence of a number of skillful and talented cricketers across the three teams.
“As captain I’m looking forward to give my players enough backing and support to get the best out on the field. We had the opportunity to train for three consecutive days and that will hold us in good stead when we take on both Sri Lanka and England in a space of three days before moving to Lahore.
“Our squad comprises of young and exciting players along with some really experienced ones and that will allow us to challenge the opposition in various phases of a 50-over game eventually turning them into positive results overall for Pakistan.” Harry Brook, England captain said, “This will be a massive challenge the play against two really good teams in different conditions to what we are used to at home and in front of great fans in Pakistan.
“We want to be a team that adapts to conditions and can find different ways to win and this series provides a perfect opportunity to try and do that.
“We’ve been able to do that in our past few series where we won in Sri Lanka and then the pitches were very different when we beat both India and Sri Lanka at home. Both of those series went to a deciding game, and we won, which is a good habit to get into.
“To have a chance to potentially play in a final in this series gives us another opportunity to test ourselves in that sort of situation, but we know we’ll have to play extremely well to get there.”
Kusal Mendis, Sri Lanka Captain said, “Our team is looking forward to this tri-series, and happy to compete with two good teams. We as a team takes every series and tournament that comes our way to compete at the highest level and reach our desired goals.”
Renowned English commentator and former Test cricketers Mark Butcher will join former Pakistan women captain Urooj Mumtaz Khan, former Test captains Aamir Sohail and Waqar Younis (to join from 2nd ODI) and former Pakistan cricketer Bazid Khan (only for first match). Sri Lanka’s Roshan Abeysinghe will also call the action.
Pakistan squad for tri-series: Shaheen Shah Afridi (c), Abrar Ahmed, Salman Ali Agha, Arafat Minhas, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Muhammad Ghazi Ghori (wk), Haris Rauf, Hasan Nawaz, Naseem Shah, Razaullah, Saad Baig (wk), Saim Ayub, Shadab Khan and Sufiyan Moqim.
England’s squad for tri-series: Harry Brook (c), Gus Atkinson, Sonny Baker, Tom Banton, James Coles, Jordan Cox, Mason Crane, Henry Crocombe, Sam Curran, Liam Dawson, Ben Duckett, Will Jacks, Jamie Overton, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Josh Tongue.
Sri Lanka squad for tri-series: Kusal Mendis (c), Sahan Arachchige, Dushmantha Chameera, Sachindu Colombage, Avishka Fernando, Asitha Fernando, Janith Liyanage, Dilshan Madushanka, Eshan Malinga, Kamindu Mendis, Kamil Mishara, Lahiru Udara, Pavan Rathnayake, Dasun Shanaka, Maheesh Theekshana, Dunith Wellalage.