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LONDON : No team have successfully defended the Twenty20 World Cup title and England do not have to go far back in the record books to understand the magnitude of the task facing them in the tournament in West Indies and the United States.
England will go into their Twenty20 World Cup defence slightly undercooked after two of their warm-up matches were rained out but fast bowler Mark Wood said his side are strong enough to cope with the curtailed build-up.
Inaugural T20 World Cup winners India held the top spot in the men's T20I team rankings ahead of the upcoming edition of the tournament, which the West Indies and USA are co-hosting from June 1-29. India have 264 rating points. Two-time champions West Indies have moved up to fourth position, their players showing some great form ahead of the T20 showpiece. The winners of the 2012 and 2016 editions of the tournament are ahead of New Zealand and South Africa after their 3-0 win over South Africa, who were pushed down to seventh position in the list led by India.
England and Pakistan have played 1 match in the series, with England winning that game. The pitch at the Kennington Oval, London will allow for good stroke play and the batters will find it easy to bat on the surface. It will only allow a little assistance to the bowlers and wicket-taking is going to take a lot of work. The average 1st innings score at this venue in the last 20 matches is 164 runs. The pitch at the Kennington Oval, London is a sporting one with decent assistance for both batters and bowlers on offer. Depending on today's ground conditions, the team winning the toss may decide to bat or bowl.
England take on Pakistan in the third T20I of a four-match series at the Sophia Gardens in Cardiff. Both teams have played one match in the series, with England winning that match. Jos Buttler was the Man of the Match, scoring the highest fantasy points for England with 114 points while Shaheen Afridi topped the fantasy points leaderboard for Pakistan with 100 points. The pitch at the Sophia Gardens, Cardiff, is balanced. The average first-innings score at this venue in the last 20 matches is 146 runs.
Australia will be aiming to become the first team to possess all three of cricket's global titles at the same time, but a bigger success will be if the T20 World Cup next month can help the game crack a lucrative market in the United States.
Pakistan batter Fakhan Zaman has thrown his weight behind young keeper Azam Khan amid criticism over his selection in the team for the forthcoming T20 World Cup in the Americas. Fakhar lashed out at a journalist after he questioned if Azam has been selected in the team due to "sifarish" (recommendations). The 25-year-old has been a performer in T20 leagues across the globe. However, runs have been hard to come by whenever Azam has put on the Pakistan jersey. In matches for Pakistan, he has scored just 88 runs at a poor average of 11.
England and Pakistan's T20 World Cup preparations were again dented by bad weather as the third international in Cardiff on Tuesday was abandoned without a ball being bowled. The woeful scenes in the Welsh capital followed another complete washout in the first of this four-match T20 series at Headingley. England remain 1-0 up with one to play at The Oval on Thursday after a 23-run win in at Edgbaston but this latest abandonment came just a week before they begin their T20 World Cup title defence against Scotland in Barbados on June 4.