Moin Khan son Azam Khan cricket: Why is Jos Buttler not playing today’s 1st T20I between England and Pakistan at Trent Bridge?

Jos Buttler not playing: England have looked at giving opportunities to reserve players in the first T20I at Trent Bridge.

During the first T20I of the ongoing Pakistan’s tour of England in Nottingham, England captain Eoin Morgan has won the toss and invited the opposition in to bat first.

“The last week or so has been a whirlwind for a lot of players, tor them to play with the genuine enjoyment and reap the rewards is fantastic. A huge compliment for those in isolation for them to play the way we have done in the last five or six years,” Morgan told Sky Sports at the toss.

Why is Jos Buttler not playing in the 1st T20I vs Pakistan?

England, who had announced a 16-member squad for this three-match T20I series earlier this week, have made some surprising changes to their Playing XI in a bid to give reserve players more opportunities to press a case for national selection ahead of ICC T20 World Cup 2021.

As a result, the likes of vice-captain Jos Buttler, pacer Chris Jordan and spinner Adil Rashid have all been rested for players such as Lewis Gregory, Saqib Mahmood and Matt Parkinson.

“With the [T20] World Cup around the corner, we are looking at options,” Morgan said.

Talking about the visitors, they have handed a debut to batsman Azam Khan. Son of former Pakistan captain Moin Khan, 22-year old Azam has scored 819 runs in 40 T20 innings at an average and strike rate of 22.75 and 153.37 respectively.

With captain Babar Azam and wicket-keeper batsman Mohammad Rizwan out to open the innings, this will be only the fourth time in 44 T20I innings that Fakhar Zaman will be batting out of the Top three.