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September 23 , 2022
Babar and Rizwan Help Pakistan to Level Series with Big Win over England
Karachi: Babar Azam returned to batting form with a century and Mohammad Rizwan hit 88 in a Pakistan record-breaking double-century opening stand to beat England by 10 wickets in the second Twenty20 on Thursday.
Babar made an unbeaten 110 in his second T20 century off 66 balls as Pakistan reached 203-0 with three balls to spare to level the seven-match series.
Moeen Ali accelerated at the backend of England’s innings with an unbeaten 55 off 23 balls and led the team to 199-5 after he won the toss and elected to bat.
Babar and Rizwan charged against England with aggressive batting as the visitors couldn’t hold onto their chances to break the stand.
Rizwan profited from two let-offs before he had completed his half century, but Babar belted 11 boundaries and five sixes against both pace and spin.
Babar and Rizwan held the previous record of Pakistan’s 197-run opening wicket stand, which they made against South Africa at Centurion in 2021.
Babar had scored only 98 runs in the previous seven T20s.
Rizwan also scored a half century in the first match, which England won by six wickets on Tuesday. He was more aggressive in the batting powerplay as Alex Hales dropped him while running backwards at mid-off.
“We batted well, but we dropped a big catch," Ali said. “Duckett’s partnership with Salty (Phil Salt) was fantastic and me and Brooksy (Harry Brook) played nicely.”
Salt couldn’t stump Rizwan off Adil Rashid’s first ball soon after Hales dropped a sitter. From then on, England struggled to stem the flow of runs.
Left-arm spinner Liam Dawson, the only change England made from the first game, stood out with 0-26 off his four overs, but rest of the bowlers got punished by Pakistan’s accomplished T20 opening pair.
The momentum swung in Pakistan's favor in the 13th over when Ali’s only over went for 21 as Babar smashed two sixes against his counterpart. Left-arm fast bowler Luke Wood, who grabbed three wickets in his debut T20 on Tuesday, was smashed for 0-49.
“The momentum changed when I bowled my over,” Ali said. "I know they (Babar and Rizwan) get a lot of stick for their strike-rates but they are brilliant and you can’t afford to bowl off spin to them.”
England wins 1st T20 in triumphant return to Pakistan
England made a triumphant return to Pakistan after 17 years with a six-wicket win in the first Twenty20 on Tuesday.
Debutant left-arm fast bowler Luke Wood grabbed 3-24 to help limit Pakistan to 158-7 after captain Moeen Ali won the toss in his country of roots and elected to field.
Alex Hales, in his return to England colors after more than three years, smashed 53 off 40 balls and led the visitors to 160-4 in 19.2 overs.
“Very enjoyable performance, it’s my debut so can’t complain,” Wood said. “They had a good start, but you kind of work it out quickly. We kept taking wickets, which was the key and (we) had a pretty good back end.”
Pakistan couldn’t capitalize on Mohammad Rizwan (68) and captain Babar Azam’s (31) aggressive opening stand of 85 off 57 balls before the middle-order capitulated against Wood in the death overs.
“After 10 overs, there was a swing of momentum for which you have to give credit to England,” Babar said as Pakistan could score only 71 in the last 10 overs after getting along comfortably at 87-1 in the first 10. “We didn’t have enough big partnerships and our batters need to step up.”
Hales then benefitted from two dropped catches in his 20s before going down to fast bowler Haris Rauf soon after completing his half century.
Harry Brooks, who played for Lahore in the PSL earlier this year, made an unbeaten 42 off 25 balls to finish off the game with four balls to spare.
Hales benefitted from two dropped catches in his 20s before perishing to fast bowler Haris Rauf soon after completing his half century.
Babar seemed to have regained his lost batting form which saw him score only 68 runs in six games of Asia Cup earlier this month… - AP
Courtes AP