Pakistani batsmen and bowlers snatched the victory away from the hosts by showing excellent performance in the opening match of T20I series against England in Nottingham.
Nottingham: (UrduPoint/Pakistan Point News-July 17th, 2021) Pakistan secured the much needed victory by defeating England by 31 runs in the first T20I match on Saturday.
Pakistan scored 232/6 in 20 overs with major contribution of 150-run stand by Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam.
Shadab Khan with his three wickets, a brilliant catch at the boundary, and run-out followed by Shaheen Shah’s three wickets pushed Pakistan to strong position to defend the total.
Fakhar Zaman and Mohammad Hafeez carried the platform as they scored 46 off 16 balls for fourth wickets. Hafeez made 10-ball 24 while Fakhar made 8-ball 26.
In 2018, Pakistan reached their highest-ever total in the format, the previous best was 205/3 against West Indies in Karachi in 2018.
For England, all bowlers were expensive. Curran bagged two while Saqib Mehmood, Willey and Gregory took one each.
In response, England lost their opener, Dawid Malan, earlier on just 12 runs. Jonny Bairstow departed after scoring 11 followed by Jason Roy (31) and Moeen Ali (1).
Liam Livingstone caught the limelight by scoring his maiden T20I century. While making the most of his experience of playing Haris Rauf, Shaheen, and Hasnain in the Pakistan Super League, Livingstone smashed 103 runs off 53 balls laced with six boundaries and nine sixes.
He made the mammoth run-chase look easy at one stage but Shadab removed him to bring the Green Shirts back in the game.
Haris, Hasnain and Imad also picked up a wicket each for Pakistan apart from Shaheen and Shadab.
Teams
Pakistan: Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Babar Azam (capt), Sohaib Maqsood, Mohammad Hafeez, Fakhar Zaman, Azam Khan, Shadab Khan, Imad Wasim, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Hasnain.
England: Jason Roy, Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Eoin Morgan, Lewis Gregory, Tom Curran, David Willey, Saqib Mahmood, Matt Parkinson.
