Pakistan captain Babar Azam, on Friday, completed 3000 runs in T20Is, joining India’s Virat Kohli as the joint-quickest player to reach that milestone while becoming only the 5th men’s player to achieve that feat. His 87 runs off 59 ball, however, went in vain as England ran rampant over a hapless Pakistan bowling attack to chase down 170 runs and level the series 3-3.
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Coming in to chase, the Three Lions registered a score of 82/1 in the first 6 overs against Pakistan, which is the highest powerplay score by any team against the Men in Green in the T20I format. Philip Salt and Alex Hales started in blistering fashion with the former’s 88 guiding England to victory with more than 5 overs to spare.
Alex Hales made 27 off 12 balls and added 55 runs with Salt. Then Dawid Malan and Ben Duckett combined with Salt to get England home with 33 balls to spare.
A superb strike to get to a special milestone 🔥#PAKvENG | #UKSePK pic.twitter.com/HKLWgwK5J9
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— Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) September 30, 2022
Earlier, Pakistan’s top order struggled without the world’s top ranked T20 batter Mohammad Rizwan, who was rested after scoring four half-centuries in the previous five games.
Babar held the innings together with Iftikhar Ahmed (31) and Mohammad Nawaz (12) as Pakistan made 99 runs in the latter half of its innings.
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A dominant victory takes it to a decider! 🙌
Scorecard: https://t.co/kKg4B1XiHZ
🇵🇰#PAKvENG 🏴 | @PhilSalt1 pic.twitter.com/7vWKJD1wDJ
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— England Cricket (@englandcricket) September 30, 2022
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Salt and Hales combined for a rapid half-century stand off just 23 balls. Hales holed out while playing a slog sweep against legspinner Shadab Khan.
Salt and Malan scored freely against fast bowlers Shahnawaz Dahani (0-33), Aamer Jamal (0-30) and Mohammad Wasim (0-29) before Malan was trapped by Shadab on 26.
Duckett hit a breezy unbeaten 26 beside Salt to take England home.
(With AP inputs)
