England in Pakistan: Moeen Ali prepares to lead tourists in landmark series

The England cricket team will play in Pakistan for the first time in 17 years.

In place of Buttler, who will be out for at least the first few games of the Twenty20 tour because of a calf injury, is all-rounder Moeen, whose family originate from Pakistan.

Two of the best T20 teams face each other as they prepare for the World Cup.

This tour is more than that.

It will leave an important legacy for a younger generation of Pakistanis who have not seen their national side play at home since the attack on the Sri Lankan team in 2009, and will not have seen England play there before.

The first T20 in Pakistan was supposed to be, according to Moeen.

The timing is right for me to be the next England captain.

I've played in Pakistan before but I've never been to England. I'm really looking forward to playing cricket and entertaining the crowd.

There was no international cricket in Pakistan for six years after the attack on the team in 2009.

Pakistan hosted Sri Lanka in the first men's Test in the country in 12 years, while Australia played three Tests, three One-Day Internationals and one Twenty20 there earlier this year.

"Other teams have toured there already but when England go there, that's when cricket in Pakistan will really feel like it's back."

Pakistan have always been a really talented team, but they need to play in front of their own crowd so they can inspire the next generation.

England withdrew their men's and women's teams from planned tours of Pakistan because of a security threat, a decision that Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ramiz Raja called "absurd".

The PCB and theECB agreed to add two T20s to the five originally planned.

Bulletproof mini-buses for daily travel and armed security personnel on duty at the team hotels are some of the heightened security measures taken during this tour.

Pakistan is an amazing place and we can't really go there.

The food is amazing and the restaurants are great. I like food from Pakistan.

It's hard to choose his favourite dish.

Daal and saag are my favorite foods. I enjoy lamb as well. I enjoy all the curry. I'm excited to eat. He hoped we could order in.

It's much easier to choose his favourite Pakistan player.

"As far as I know, the one player I always loved and still love is Saeed Anwar, I loved his batting," said the man.

There is a special relationship between England's spin bowling coach and Pakistan's off-spinner.

"I call him my teacher," said the man. He's the best spin coach I've worked with.

The series has given significance to Pakistan batter Shan Masood, who has been called up for the first time in international T20 cricket at the age of 32.

He said that the series is historical and that being a part of it is important.

We have suffered a lot with the sport of Pakistan. We haven't had any cricket at home, so we have lost a lot of cricket. Children have not been able to follow the game or their heroes.

Pakistan cricket has survived, but the benefits you get from playing in your home country are significant.

Everyone is happy. We've seen stadiums in Pakistan where there is a 30,000 capacity but there are 40,000 in the ground. People love the game.

They have the same idol, even though they are on opposite teams.

Masood said that no one beats Saeed Anwar. I didn't have to look a lot further as a left-handed opening bat.

Pakistan is trying to recover from the floods that have killed 1,500 people and affected 33 million people.

Masood said, "We've all been devastated by the setbacks that the floods have caused so just to see how people, whatever they are going through, stay focused on cricket."

Everyone is excited that we have home cricket.

The people of Pakistan are friendly and hospitable to one another. It's hard to describe. Our people are passionate about cricket.

The way in which cricket brings people together will be demonstrated by Pakistan and England.

"No matter what is happening in life, cricket comes first and everything else comes later," said Masood.