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ICC World Cup 2023: England win toss, opt to bat first against Pakistan
Kolkata: England captain Jos Buttler has won the toss and elected to bat first against Pakistan here at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
England are languishing at seventh position in points table with only two wins in eight matches. The defending champions have four points and are aiming for a top-8 finish in the tournament to qualify for ICC Champions Trophy 2025 while Pakistan are at fifth position in points table with four wins in eight matches. They need to chase down England's target with 285 balls to spare in order to qualify for semi-final and topple over New Zealand.
"We gonna bat first. Looks a good wicket, looks a bit dry and we want to make first use of it. We are going with the same team today. It's always good to break a losing streak. We would look to try and do justice to ourselves. (On David Willey) Emotional day for him, he has been great for us. So, we talked about trying to enjoy it and take it all in," said England captain Jos Buttler after winning the toss.
"We wanted to bat first, but toss is not in our hands. We have good bowlers and we would look to bowl them out cheaply. We have one change - Hasan Ali is not playing and Shadab Khan comes in his place. We are looking forward to Fakhar's batting. We will try our best," said Pakistan captain Babar Azam after the toss.
Teams:
England (Playing XI): Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Harry Brook, Jos Buttler(w/c), Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, David Willey, Gus Atkinson, Adil Rashid
Pakistan (Playing XI): Abdullah Shafique, Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam(c), Mohammad Rizwan(w), Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Agha Salman, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Afridi, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Haris Rauf.