Following the loss against England in the fourth and final T20I of the series, Pakistan skipper Babar Azam revealed the reason behind his team’s loss in the match, saying that the fall of wickets shifted the momentum towards the hosts on Thursday.
Fine bowling spells by pacer Mark Wood and spinner Adil Rashid combined with some ferocious hitting by openers Phil Salt and Jos Buttler helped England secure a series victory after a seven-wicket win over Pakistan in the fourth and final T20I at London on Thursday night.
With this win, England has taken the four-match series 2-0. Two matches were called off due to rain, and only the second and fourth T20Is were played.
“In the first six overs, we played very well. After that, the momentum shifted as wickets fell. Our middle order needs to step up. You need 2-3 good overs in the middle and in the death as well. England’s bowling was very good. Hopefully we don’t do this at the World Cup. We made a couple of changes due to the injuries. Our powerplay was good. We have played good cricket in patches,” Babar said in the post-match presentation.
After electing to field first, England bowlers were subjected to some fine hitting by the opening pair of skipper Babar Azam (36 in 22 balls, with five fours and a six) and Mohammed Rizwan (23 in 16 balls, with three fours), but the spinners Adil Rashid (2/27) and Moeen Ali (1/23) turned the pressure back on Pakistan batters, sinking them to 86/5. It was only a brief fightback by Usman Khan (38 in 21 balls, with three fours and two sixes) and Iftikhar Ahmed (21 in 18 balls, with two fours), that took Pakistan to 157/10 in 19.5 overs.
Besides Rashid and Moeen, Mark Wood (2/35) and Liam Livingstone (2/17) also did fine with the ball.
In the run-chase of 158 runs, England blew the visitors away with a powerplay assault by Phil Salt (45 in 24 balls, with six fours and two sixes) and skipper Jos Buttler (39 in 24 balls, with seven fours and a six), who made 78 runs in the powerplay.
A brief comeback spell from pacer Haris Rauf (3/38) delayed the victory for England. But Jonny Bairstow (28* in 16 balls, with a four and three sixes) and Harry Brook (17* in 14 balls, with a four and six), finished off the proceedings in 15.3 overs, with seven wickets left.
With this, England win the four-match series 2-0. The first and third T20Is could not played due to rain.
Rashid got the ‘Player of the Match’ award for his spell. (ANI)
