Pakistan captain Azhar Ali chose to bat again on a slow Sharjah surface against West Indies. Pakistan went in with the same XI that came out trumps by 111 runs via the Duckworth-Lewis method in the first ODI on Friday.
"The surface is good, it will take the batsmen some time to settle, but there are plenty of runs on offer," Azhar said at the toss. "The ball will keep low and may not turn much later which will make batting later on difficult."
West Indies were "forced into a change" with
Shannon Gabriel pulling up with a sore neck. Fast bowler
Alzarri Joseph, who had played a Test against India last month, was brought in for his ODI debut as like-for-like replacement. West Indies chose to stick with the same batting order despite their abject performance in the series opener.
"In the last game, there were a few boundaries on the first and last balls, so we need to control that," West Indies captain Jason Holder said. "We need to be a little bit more assertive and show more intent. It is up to each and every individual to work with their game plans."
Pakistan: 1 Azhar Ali (capt), 2 Sharjeel Khan, 3 Babar Azam, 4 Mohammad Rizwan, 5 Shoaib Malik, 6 Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), 7 Mohammad Nawaz, 8 Imad Wasim, 9 Wahab Riaz, 10 Mohammad Amir, 11 Hasan Ali
West Indies: 1 Johnson Charles, 2 Kraigg Brathwaite, 3 Darren Bravo, 4 Marlon Samuels, 5 Denesh Ramdin (wk), 6 Kieron Pollard, 7 Jason Holder (capt), 8 Carlos Brathwaite, 9 Sunil Narine, 10 Sulieman Benn, 11 Alzarri Joseph
Babar Azam became the 10th Pakistan batsman to score two back-to-back ODI tons .....