England v Pakistan: 5 player battles in the first Test

#3 Joe Root v Mohammad Abbas

Joe Root

The right-arm seam bowler may have played only 6 Test matches for Pakistan so far but on this tour, he has proven to be a revelation and there is no doubt that Mohammad Abbas is going to be a key bowler for the visitors in the 1st Test. Abbas took 9 wickets in the victory over Ireland at Dublin and will be one of the bowlers to watch out for at Lord’s. However, at Lord’s, he will come up against a much stronger batting line-up and it remains to be seen how he performs against Joe Root, who is counted among the best batsmen in the world at the moment.

The England captain might not have had a great time in Australia and New Zealand, but he was not batting poorly. He was unable to convert his starts into big scores and now that he is back in England, he would like to straighten that out. In the last home series against Pakistan two years ago, he was the top scorer in the series and slammed more than 500 runs in the series. He is going to be the wicket Pakistan would be after and it would be interesting to see how Abbas handles the pressure of bowling to one of the world’s best.