Unchanged England Bat First, Malik Dropped

Abu Dhabi: England captain Alastair Cook won a 2nd consecutive toss and decided to bat in the second day-night international against Pakistan at Abu Dhabi Stadium on Wednesday.

England named an unchanged team as they search for a 2-0 lead with Tim Bresnan remaining on the sidelines. Pakistan, though, have shuffled their pack with three alterations to their eleven. Azhar Ali, who had an impressive Test series, replaces Asad Shafiq, Abdur Rehman comes in for Shoaib Malik and Wahab Riaz, after an expensive display two days ago, misses out in favour of Aizaz Cheema.

The presence of Rehman will rekindle memories of the Test series where he caused the England batsmen plenty of problems. That was especially the case for Kevin Pietersen who is under pressure to make a major contribution opening the batting.

Umar Akmal has been passed fit to continue the wicketkeeping role after suffering a back problem during the opening game, but Pakistan do have quite a lengthy lower order with Shahid Afridi now pencilled in to bat at No. 7.

Teams

Pakistan Mohammad Hafeez, Imran Farhat, Azhar Ali, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), Umar Akmal (wk) Shahid Afridi, Abdur Rehman, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal and Aizaz Cheema

England Alastair Cook (capt), Kevin Pietersen, Jonathan Trott, Ravi Bopara, Eoin Morgan, Craig Kieswetter (wk), Samit Patel, Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann, James Anderson and Steven Finn

Scores	Upcoming	Results
West Indies vs Bangladesh - 3rd T20I Zimbabwe vs Afghanistan - 2nd ODI South Africa vs Pakistan - 2nd ODI 3rd ODI - Zimbabwe v Afghanistan - December 21, 07:30 GMT 3rd ODI - South Africa v Pakistan - December 22, 12:00 GMT 3rd Test - Australia v India at Brisbane Match drawn 2nd T20I - West Indies v Bangladesh at St Vincent Bangladesh won by 27 runs

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