LONDON - A combined bowling and batting effort powered England to outclass Pakistan by seven wickets in the fourth T20I to win the four-match series 2-0.
Set to chase 158, England comfortably chased down the total for the loss of just three wickets and 27 balls to spare. Openers Phil Salt and Jos Buttler gave England a flying start to the pursuit against Pakistan as they raced the home side to 78/0 in the batting powerplay. Returning pacer Haris Rauf then provided a much-needed breakthrough to Pakistan in the seventh when he got Salt caught at deep midwicket.
Salt struck six fours and two sixes on his way to a 25-ball 45. Haris then struck again in his next over as he got Buttler caught behind. The England captain scored 39 off 20 deliveries, hitting seven fours and a six. Will Jacks then knitted a brief partnership with Jonny Bairstow, adding 11 runs for the third wicket before Haris Rauf struck again and removed the former, who scored 20 off 18 deliveries.
Jacks’ dismissal had brought England down to 112/3 in 11 overs but Bairstow joined forces with Harry Brook, recording an unbeaten 46-run partnership to take the hosts over the line. Bairstow scored an unbeaten 28 off 16 deliveries while Brooks made 17 not out. For Pakistan, Haris Rauf picked three wickets while the rest went wicketless.
Put into bat first, Pakistan could only register 157 runs on the board before being bundled out on the penultimate delivery of the innings. With young left-handed opener Saim Ayub dropped, Pakistan captain Babar Azam and wicketkeeper batter Mohammad Rizwan opened the innings for the touring side.
The decorated opening pair provided a solid start to Pakistan, adding 59 runs for the first wicket before Babar fell victim to Jofra Archer on the final delivery of the batting powerplay. Babar smashed five fours and a six on his way to a 22-ball 36. Rizwan was quick to follow as he was cleaned up by Adil Rashid in the next over. He scored 23 off 16 deliveries with the help of three boundaries.
Coming as Saim Ayub’s replacement, Usman Khan then put together a brief partnership with Fakhar Zaman, who fell in the ninth over after scoring a run-a-ball nine. Pakistan then lost two more wickets in quick succession as Shadab Khan and Azam Khan both perished for ducks. The touring side was 91/5 in 10.4 overs when the on-field umpires decided to stop the proceedings and the covers were brought on.
The action soon resumed and Usman stretched his seventh-wicket partnership with Iftikhar Ahmed.The duo added 46 runs before Usman was dismissed by Liam Livingstone in the 15th over. He remained the top-scorer for Pakistan with a brisk 38 off just 21 balls, hitting three fours and two sixes in the process.
Livingstone struck again in the next over as he bamboozled Shaheen Shah Afridi (0), bringing Pakistan down to 126/7 in 14.3 overs.Iftikhar Ahmed and Naseem Shah then added 19 runs for the eighth wicket before the former fell on the final delivery of the 18th over with 145 runs on the board.The all-rounder played a scratchy 21-run knock from 18 deliveries.
Naseem, on the other hand, carried his bat till the penultimate over and walked back after scoring 16.Adil Rashid, Livingstone and Mark Wood led the bowling charge for England with two wickets each while Moeen Ali, Chris Jordan and Jofra Archer chipped in with a wicket apiece.
Scores in Brief
ENGLAND 158 for 3 (Salt 45, Rauf 3-38) beat PAKISTAN 157 (Usman 38, Livingstone 2-17, Rashid 2-27, Wood 2-35) by seven wickets.