Pakistan take on England in T20I series decider today
MANCHESTER – With little to separate England and Pakistan after two T20Is, the teams will clash in the series decider at Old Trafford, Manchester on Tuesday.
Both England and Pakistan have played a very entertaining brand of cricket in the first two games of the T20I series and much of the same can be expected in the decider.
The hosts managed to a make a brilliant comeback in the second game and they will hope they can carry the momentum going into the final game. With abundance of resources on the bench and their tendency to make changes to the XI, England might look to test a few more fringe players ahead of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup later this year.
Pakistan skipper Babar Azam will be looking for an improved performance, especially from his bowlers who have leaked 200 or more runs in both the games so far. Though Azam and his opening partner Rizwan have been at the top of their games, the collapse under the pressure of a chase might force the skipper to ponder over making a couple of changes in both departments for the decider.
Remember the last time:
England managed to make a fantastic comeback into the series with a 45-run win over Pakistan in the second T20I in Leeds.
Put in to bat first by Pakistan, England lost Jason Roy and Dawid Malan within the first three overs. Jos Butter, captaining the side in Eoin Morgan's absence, played a responsible innings of 59 while Moeen Ali and Liam Livingstone took the attack to the bowlers. Scalping Buttler, Bairstow and Livingstone in consecutive overs helped Pakistan put a leash on scoring but the tail did enough to take the total to 200.
Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan started the chase very well, putting together 50 runs for the first wicket within the Powerplay but once Saqib Mahmood dismissed the captain, Pakistan found it very difficult to recover. The visitors went from 50/0 to 105/6 as Rashid Khan, Moeen Ali and Mark Parkinson spun a web around the batsmen. Imad Wasim and Shadab Khan did get among the runs but all it did was delay the inevitable as they only managed to reach 155/9 by the end of the 20 overs.
Moeen Ali was awarded Player of the Match for his all-round exploits that saw him score a 16-ball 36 and return figures of 2/32.
What they said:
Babar Azam (Pakistan captain): "We gave away 30 extra runs and we weren't able to maintain the momentum that we got with the opening partnership. We had confidence in chasing, and my wicket was crucial because we lost momentum with that wicket. We'll try not to repeat the mistakes in the next game and win."
Moeen Ali (England all-rounder): "Getting an opportunity up the order is fantastic, and bowling a few overs was great. Brilliant team performance, so many other guys could have been Man of the Match. I'm happy to float, when you bat up the order you can get going in the Powerplay and play your shots. Great for the series and going into Old Trafford it'll be a fantastic game." –ICC
