Sadiq, Mohsin say Pakistan enjoy edge in ODI series against England

E-Paper | July 29, 2026

KARACHI: Former Pakistan Test openers Mohsin Khan and Sadiq Mohammad on Monday rated Pakistan as favourites for the four-match ODI series against England starting on Wednesday in Abu Dhabi.

“This Pakistan is a formidable one with solid batting, good pace-cum-spin attack and favourable conditions, and England will have to be at their best to do really well against it to make an impact in the ODI series,” Mohsin said.

It was in Mohsin’s coaching tenure that Pakistan had routed then world number one England 3-0 in the Test series in 2012 but had lost the ODI series.

When reminded of the same, Mohsin refused to elaborate on the reasons of Pakistan’s ODI series defeat in the UAE.

“No comments on the 2012 ODI series loss,” he said. “But our 2-0 Test win [2015] is heartening and Pakistan are a better one-day side than England in the UAE conditions despite our 8th ranking in ICC table.

“The momentum is with Pakistan and they must carry it forward in the ODIs,” Mohsin remarked.

Meanwhile, Sadiq also rated Pakistan’s chances of victory over England in ODIs as bright and added that Azhar Ali’s army had an edge in all departments of the game over their rivals.

However, he warned, Pakistan batsmen must not be complacent and must maintain the aggressive approach to win the limited-over games.

“England will be under tremendous psychological pressure after the Test defeats, so Pakistan must keep up that pressure,” the former left-handed opener said.

However, he quickly added that the ODI battle will be a fresh contest and the Test series is now history. “Led by Eoin Morgan, England may come up with a better show after acclimatising with the local conditions,” said Sadiq.

He said England had some good all-rounders in their line-up but it would be another big challenge for their batsmen to handle Pakistan spinners and fast bowlers. “Until and unless, Pakistan play really poor cricket, they cannot lose the ODI series,” he pointed out.

Published in Dawn, November 10th, 2015

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Talha

Nov 10, 2015 11:36am

You can't move forward until you give the well deserved respect to those who made the impossible 'possible.' Give respect to wasim, moin, rashid latif, saeed anwar, waqar, saqlain, razzaq, asif mujtaba, azhar mahmood and the recent victim Mohd. yousuf. Let them play their last match for Pakistan.

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Jawaid Chaudhary

Nov 10, 2015 11:55am

Until and unless Pakistan plays out of their skin Pakistan has less to win in ODI. Anderson and company has been loudly praised by Pakistan Coach. Little support from Ali and Adil and another whitewash is probably inevitable

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Capt C M Khan

Nov 10, 2015 12:24pm

Realistically I do not see any batting talent in this team that can challenge Broad and Company. All the best anyway.

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Obi kanobi

Nov 10, 2015 12:56pm

Well done guys Pakistan now 8th in ODI ranking and they are just piling on more pressure with their 'favourites' tag. Beating Zimbabwe or a weakened Sri Lanka side recently does not make you an army or World beaters. Pakistan do have momentum but this Eon Morgan led England ODI team is a transformed side. Expect them to put up a good fight in any conditions. Will YK be able to transfer his form from tests, or will this be his swan song series?

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Naz

Nov 10, 2015 01:43pm

The issue with the Test series and where the PCB or the grounds man went wrong was to produce fresh turners - which were soft in bounce and gripped. This allowed the English bowlers to seam the ball much more.. If the wickets would have been dry & hard turning pitches, Anderson and Co would have struggled with no lateral movement barring the reverse swing later in the Inns. Pak batters would have found it easier playing through the line. If Pak perform as per recent performances, they should come out winners..

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Moshim Khan Mewati

Nov 10, 2015 03:12pm

Is ABDUL RAZZAQUE still living on the the planet EARTH????? If yes, where he is & what he is doing??? May I remind you that he is greatest ALLROUNDER of cricket history. He hits clean & huge-high air shots. Also, why MD YOUSUF didn't complete his 10000 ODI runs short by 180run??????? Please bring ABDUL RAZZAQ. Against ENGLAND in ODI SARFRAZ AHMAD must open in place of AHMAD SEHZAD because SEHZAD is worst player of limited over cricket after ASAD SAFIQ. He first play so many dot balls & then become victim by playing STUPID wrong shots, consequently PRESSURE exerted on PAKISTAN batsman. At last BABAR AJAM is also a better replacement of SEHZAD.

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Mudassar Siddiq

Nov 10, 2015 03:28pm

Fail to understand how Sadiq and Mohsin are saying this. My prediction is 3:1 in favor of England. Our batting line up is not at all capable to put any pressure on opposition in any ground. Bowling may get you an occasional 1 or 2 matches. If we can not accept our weakness, how can we improve it

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junaid

Nov 10, 2015 04:49pm

Please mudt select odi team based on merit. The last time pak whitewashed eng, they had lost the odi series. Same thing with the aussies and the kiwis. Pak is doing a great job in the tests but odi are a different ball game.

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junaid

Nov 10, 2015 04:52pm

@Moshim Khan Mewati well said. Shehzad should not be in the team. He only has couple of shots in his books and he had been given plenty of opportunities. No point of scoring one 50 or a 100 once after every 15 innings.

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A. Ali

Nov 10, 2015 05:56pm

I don know what prompted these two stalwarts to say so.... as the reality suggest it will be a close series and winner will be one who will play good in key "moments". apparently both are at par as far as ODIs are concerned. good luck to both, and win whoever snaps those crucial match turning "moments".

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irshad

Nov 10, 2015 06:29pm

Mohsin and Sadiq's comments are the height of absurdity, coming as they do from the mouths of two experienced former Test cricketers. Neither is the momentum with Pakistan nor is England smarting from the Test defeats. If anything, they are buoyed by the fact that they rolled us over 4-0 in the 2012 ODIS despite having been whitewashed in the Tests 3-0. ODIs ix a completely different ball game where each of their pacemen have to bowl 10 overs only and with Pakistan's inability to score off them I the Tests, I don't see Pakistan scoring more than 250 in any of the ODIs, if they pack their playing XI with four fast bowlers. Joe Root & Co are more than capable to overhaul such mediocre scores, where the new par is 300.

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Malik Asif Iqbal

Nov 10, 2015 08:39pm

Younus Khan has been backbone of the Pakistan bating line up since departure of Inzimam and Yousuf.But his present ODI form doesn't permit him to even think of his place in the team.One is unable to understand why the establishment in PCB is working against Pakistan . They're paid by the poor people of Pakistan but still they work against Pakistan, s interests.

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Nov 11, 2015 07:26am

Under present batting form of pakistan side Hafeez will have to do all the work to win the match. Slow batting from younus will hurt the score. Pakistan ODI side dont look any better than england side.

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