Pakistan  have recalled Shaheen Shah Afridi for their Super Eight fixture against England in Pallekle at the expense of Faheem Ashraf, and will bat first after Salman Agha won the toss on a fresh pitch.

Afridi’s nine overs at the T20 World Cup have cost 101 runs and he has been left out for consecutive matches after Pakistan’s heavy defeat to India in Colombo, including their no-result against New Zealand to start the Super Eight stage. But he has been recalled to face England, perhaps due to their top order’s perceived vulnerability against left-arm seam.

Ashraf rescued Pakistan in their opening group-stage match against the Netherlands, hitting 29 not out off 11 balls to secure a three-wicket win. But he has only bowled two overs in the tournament and has been batting down the order.

“It looks like a good pitch,” Agha said at the toss. “We want to put up an above-par score and defend that total.”

England will qualify for the semi-finals if they win either of their remaining Super Eight fixtures, but Brook said that he would rather get the job done this evening than face a must-win match against New Zealand on Friday. “That would be lovely, wouldn’t it? But you never know in T20 cricket, it’s such a fickle game,” he said.

Brook said that he would have chosen to bat first if he had won the toss, but expects a better surface than the one that England played on at Pallekele two days ago in their low-scoring win over Sri Lanka. “Hopefully, it’s going to be a little bit better,” he said. “We haven’t had our perfect game yet. Hopefully, it’s just around the corner.”

England have picked the same team for the fifth consecutive match at this World Cup, and have carded their batting line-up in the same order despite some calls for Brook to be promoted from No. 5.

The fixture is a rematch of the 2022 T20 World Cup final, which England won by five wickets at the MCG, and there are nine survivors across the two teams.

England:  Phil Salt,  Jos Buttler (wk),  Jacob Bethell,  Tom Banton,  Harry Brook (capt),  Sam Curran,  Will Jacks,  Jamie Overton,  Liam Dawson,  Jofra Archer,  Adil Rashid.

Pakistan:  Sahibzada Farhan,  Saim Ayub,  Salman Agha (capt), Babar Azam,  Fakhar Zaman, Shadab Khan,  Usman Khan (wk), Mohammad Nawaz,  Shaheen Shah Afridi,  Salman Mirza,  Usman Tariq.

(Cricinfo)