Familiar failings came back to haunt Pakistan as England put in an all-round display to level the 3 match T20 series at 1-1.
Pakistan after winning the toss put England into bat and after losing a couple of early wickets, stand-in captain Jos Butler and Moeen Ali steadied the ship.
England take advantage of uninspired bowling.
Despite the two spinners, Imad Wasim and Shadab Khan bowling well, English batsmen kept the scoreboard ticking at a good rate. Fast bowlers Mohammad Hasnain and Haris Rauf did take 5 wickets between them but went for over 99 runs in their combined 8 overs.
England took full advantage of a weak bowling performance as first Moeen and then Livingstone did the damage with quick-fire cameos. Jos Butler also 59 of 37 balls as England posted a score of 200 on a difficult track.
Pakistan crumble under pressure.
If Pakistan were looking to test how their batting responds under pressure while chasing a huge total, then this was a stark reminder of the work to be done. Both openers again impressed with a quick start that saw Pakistan reach 50 runs in a little over 5 overs. But once Babar was dismissed by Saqib Mahmood, their chase unraveled. On a difficult track, Pakistan’s batsmen one after another failed to show any technique or build a partnership that could at any time threaten England.
Shoaib Maqsood came and went. Rizwan’s struggles came to an end when he was caught and bowled by Adil Rashid. Much was expected of Fakhar Zaman and Mohammad Hafeez, but they failed to deliver when the pressure was on.
England win with spin.
A big point in this match was England going in with three spinners, perfectly reading the conditions. While Pakistan despite having a quality leg spinner in the squad decided against it. At the end poor decision-making cost them.
