England captain Ollie Pope wary of 'highly skilled' Pakistan despite poor form

England stand-in captain Ollie Pope has said that they are not taking Pakistan lightly despite the recent results between the two teams. The last time England visited Pakistan, they cleansweeped them 3-0 in the Test series.

In Short

• England are playing 3 Tests against Pakistan
• Ollie Pope is wary of Pakistan's talent
• Pakistan have had a tough time at home recently

England stand-in captain Ollie Pope is wary of Pakistan despite the team's recent form in Test cricket. Speaking at the pre-match press conference on Sunday, October 6, Pope said that Pakistan had highly skilled player and they were not taking the hosts lightly in the upcoming 3-match series.

Pakistan's recent run at home has been terrible in Test cricket. The side recently lost a 2-match Test series to Bangladesh - their first in the history of cricket. In the last two years, both England and Australia have come to Pakistan and have won Test series.

In fact, Ben Stokes' England, in the previous Test series a Pakistan clenasweeped the series 3-0.

"They have obviously not had a strong run recently but they are a highly skilled side. There are a lot of the same faces in the squad (like in last tour) and like I said, they have not had the easiest of ride recently, but like I said, they have highly skilled players," Ollie Pope said on ahead of the first Test match in Multan.

"Guys like Babar, Naseem and Shaheen are very good batters and bowlers and they are going to look to make an impact in this series. They are a team we do not treat lightly at all," he further added.

Unlike last time, Pakistan are expected to prepare pitches that aid fast bowling in the first two days of the Test match. The team has named Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah and Aamir Jamal as their full-time pacers.

Shaheen, Aamir and Naseem made a return to the playing XI, while Abrar Ahmed kept his place in the team.

Pakistan's Playing XI

Saim Ayub, Abdullah Shafique, Shan Masood, Babar Azam, Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Rizwan, Salman Ali Agha, Aamir Jamal, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah, Abrar Ahmed.

England's Playing XI

Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope (c), Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jamie Smith (wk), Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse, Jack Leach, Shoaib Bashir.