Pakistan vs England: Moeen Ali officially takes over as leader from injured Jos Buttler as historic series gets underway

Moeen Ali officially took over the reigns of the England team on Tuesday with regular white-ball captain Jos Buttler recovering from an injury during the first T20I against Pakistan in Karachi. Ali won the toss and chose to field at Karachi’s National Stadium as the series officially got underway. England named Alex Hales, making his comeback into the side after more than three years, in their lineup, while pacer Luke Wood received his maiden cap. “It’s massive for us and massive for Pakistan as well. I’ve not been to Pakistan much in my life so to represent England as captain here is amazing,” Ali said during the toss. England are in action on Pakistani soil for the first time in 17 years, making the ongoing series all the more historic and making Ali’s ascent to the role of the captain even more special. Ahead of the first match of the series, Ali had said that the tour of Pakistan might just be “the most special” of his career so far. “I have been privileged enough to do many overseas trips as an England cricketer from Australia to South Africa to the Caribbean but this tour to Pakistan might be the most special of the lot,” Ali, who is of Pakistani ancestry on his father’s side, told the press in Karachi ahead of the series opener. Buttler had suffered a calf injury while representing Manchester Originals in The Hundred recently and the issue not only has ruled him out of the first few matches of the seven-T20I series, but the swashbuckling might just end up sitting out of the entire series as he has been advised to take things slowly in his recovery from the injury. _**Click here to follow live updates of the first T20I between Pakistan and England**_ Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News ,  India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.