Eng vs Pak 1st T20I: Pakistan tour of England 2021. ODI series was sealed away by England, Sweeping Pakistan 3-0. Now it was time for the T20I series. Pakistan will forget the ODI’s and shift its focus on their most successful format. They are a pretty dangerous side when it comes to the T20I’s. Also, England getting their big players back into the side was a boost. 1st T20 was at Trent Bridge in Nottingham.
Playing 11’s for both the teams:
England playing 11: Jason Roy, Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow (w), Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Eoin Morgan (c), Lewis Gregory, Tom Curran, David Willey, Saqib Mahmood, Matthew Parkinson.
Pakistan playing 11: Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Rizwan (w), Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Hafeez, Sohaib Maqsood, Azam Khan, Shadab Khan, Imad Wasim, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Hasnain.
England captain Eoin Morgan was the toss and decided to bowl first.
Batting’s first Pakistan team got the perfect start they would hope for from Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam. Babar was first to get to the 50 runs mark in 35 balls. And soon after Rizwan also reached the milestone in 35 balls as well. Rizwan scored 63 runs from 41 balls before Lewis Gregory got him caught behind. It was a huge 150 runs opening stand. Sohaib Maqsood came and scored 19 runs in 7 balls. Tom Curran got the wicket of Maqsood caught by David Willey. Babar Azam departed 3 balls after Maqsood scoring 85 from 49 balls hitting 8 boundaries and 3 sixes through his innings.
David Willey and Jonny Bairstow’s pair took the crucial wicket. Fakhar Zaman and Mohammad Hafeez’s cameo took the Pakistan score to the ultimate level. Tom Curran cleaned Hafeez and Saqib Mahmood got Zaman scoring 10 balls 24 runs and 8 balls 26 runs respectively. Both the batsmen scored 1 four and 3 sixes each. Pakistan’s score reached a mammoth total of 232/6.
Tom Curran took 2 wickets. Bowling at a bit expensive economy of 11.75, giving 47 runs. David Willey, Saqib Mahmood, and Lewis Gregory took a wicket each.
Livingston scored fastest century for england but it wasn’t enough:
Chasing a total as high as this wanted a solid opening partnership. Which they didn’t get. Dawid Malan was unable to find his rhythm facing only 6 balls scoring only 1 run. Shaheen Afridi caught and bowled him in the second over. Jason Roy was hitting the ball well. Joining him Johnny Bairstow hit a long six. Before he was the next to join Malan in the dressing room. It was shaheen’s second wicket-taking revenge of the six earlier. Moeen Ali came and went without much doing any damage scoring only 1 of 4 balls. Mohammad Hasnain took Moeen’s wicket.
Jason Roy also departed scoring a quick 13 balls 32 runs knock. Babar Azam caught him in the bowling of Shadab Khan. Liam Livingstone started scoring freely with Eoin Morgan rotating the strike for him. Morgan scored 16 runs from 15 balls before becoming a victim of Imad Wasim. England’s chances of winning started becoming slim as they kept losing wickets at the other end. Shadab Khan got Lewis Gregory and Liam Livingstone in the same 17th over. When England was 183/7. Pacers took care of England tail. England were all out 201/10.
Mohammad Hasnain was very economical giving just 28 runs in his spell of 4 overs taking a wicket as well. Shaheen Afridi and Shadab Khan took 3 wickets each. Shadab was expensive giving 52 runs in 4 overs while Shaheen gave only 30 in his 3.2 overs.
Eng vs Pak T20I: 2nd T20 is on 18/7/2021 at 7:00 pm IST.
