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T20 World Cup: England win toss, elect to bowl against Pakistan
Both teams were unchanged for the title tilt
Pakistan captain Babar Azam (left) and England skipper Jos Buttler with the trophy. — Twitter
England captain Jos Buttler won the toss and elected to bowl against Pakistan in the final of the T20 World Cup in Melbourne on Sunday.
Both teams went in with an unchanged team for the big game at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG)..
"It is a huge game, good nerves and there's a lot of good energy around the team," Buttler said at the toss.
"Great energy in the stadium and we are looking forward to a great game. Both teams come into this final in red hot form and we are looking forward to a tough challenge. I think it is a good wicket and hopefully it will stay the same throughout. Obviously, there's a little bit of weather around which is why we chose to bowl. We start fresh today, we bring confidence from the other day but we know it counts for nothing today," he added.
Meanwhile, Pakistan skipper Babar Azam said even he would have opted to bowl first.
"We would've also opted to bowl. We have good momentum with us and will try to continue with it," said Babar.
Former West Indian fast bowler and now turned commentator Ian Bishop said that there was some grass on the surface which should aid the pace attack of both the sides.
"There are some nice dry grass areas on the surface. But there are green patches as well. It's very very hard. Want to use the short ball. It swung more in the poweplay here than in any other ground. The kind of bowlers we have today — Shaheen (Shah Afridi), (Ben) Stokes, (Chris) Woakes — stick to your strengths," Bishop said in his pitch report.
"Perfect setting for the final. Hopefully, the rain will stay away. We have got a decent pitch here and also it's at the centre in terms of dimension. Bowling from the members end the leg-side hit is 75m and the off-side boundary is 81m and that's why the seamers bang it short here with those big boundaries. The new ball does swing here. You want to pitch it up and get it to swing here," says former England captain Nasser Hussain.
Teams:
Pakistan: Babar Azam (C), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Mohammad Haris, Shan Masood, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Shaheen Shah Afridi.
England: Jos Buttler (C) (wk), Alex Hales, Philip Salt, Ben Stokes, Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, Chris Woakes, Chris Jordan, Adil Rashid.
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