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