Eng vs Pak T20I: Game 3 was a decider for the thrilling and competitive series so far. Both sides were very eager to win the series. The series was level at 1-1 before the start of game 3.
Line-ups for the 3rd game:
England: Jason Roy, Jos Butler (wk), Dawid Malan, Johnny Bairstow, Moeen Ali, Eoin Morgan (c), Liam Livingstone, Chris Jordan, David Willey, Adil Rashid, Saqib Mahmood.
Pakistan: Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Babar Azam (c), Sohaib Maqsood, Mohammad Hafeez, Fakhar Zaman, Shadab Khan, Imad Wasim, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi, Usman Qadir, Muhammad Hasnain.
First Innings: Pakistan 154/6 in 20 overs.
Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam opened the innings for Pakistan. They started very steadily and with a good run rate. Babar Azam (11 runs from 12 balls) went for a huge hit down the ground before missing the googly completely. Jos butler did the rest with his gloves. Adil Rashid’s bowling has been very effective in almost every format. Pakistan was 42/1 in 5.2 overs after the wicket. Sohaib Maqsood looked confident hitting 2 back to back boundaries. While on the other hand, Rizwan was scoring freely. Adil was again in the action in the 9th over. Sohaib Maqsood (13 runs from 12 balls) could not clear long-on to find Jason Roy on the boundary on the first ball of the over. On the 4th ball of the same over, Mohammad Hafeez (1 run off 2 balls) hitting a loose delivery found Bairstow’s hand well inside the boundary.
Fakhar Zaman came with positive intent. He hit a four and a six in the 11th over off the bowling of Adil Rashid to his innings going. Rizwan brought up his 50 on the 2nd ball of the 14th over when Pakistan was 102/3. Moeen Ali appealed for an LBW on the 2nd ball of the 16th over, which was given not out by the umpire. England reviewed the call. Fakhar Zaman (24 from 20 balls) had to go back as Martin Saggers, the 3rd umpire, overturn the decision. Pakistan was 144/4. Rizwan continued his attack scoring consistently. Adil took his 4th wicket when Shadab Khan’s (2 runs from 5 balls) mishit found Livingstone at mid-wicket just outside the 30-yards.
Imad Wasim (1 run from 2 balls) hits a square cut to deep point. He believed he will get a boundary. But a brilliant bowling effort from Bairstow and a good accurate throw saw Imad being run out at the bowling end. Hasan Ali (15* runs from 9 balls) and Rizwan (76* from 57 balls, (6)4’s (3)6’s) finished the innings not out. Taking the total to 154/6.
Adil Rashid took 4 giving away 35 runs in his 4 overs. Moeen Ali got 1 wicket but being very economical only giving 19 runs. None other bowler got any wickets.
Second Innings: England 155/7 with 2 balls to spare.
Jason Roy and Jos Butler started the innings. Roy lashed 4 boundaries in the 2nd over to take the momentum early on. He again in the 5th over hits a six down the ground and followed up with a boundary via sweep shot behind mid-wicket. Roy was already at 28 from 16 balls and was moving nicely. Qadir was reverse swept for boundaries on the 1st and 4th ball of the 7th over. Roy swept him for four on the 5th ball of the same over to make it a big over. Butler (21 runs from 22 balls) reverse hits Shadab for a four and at the very next ball, was caught at long-off going to go big. Babar Azam took a good running catch.
Roy with a sweep shot boundary got to a quick 50 from 30 balls in the 10th over. Roy (64 runs off 36 balls) scored back-to-back fours in the 11th over before getting caught at mid-off in Qadir’s over. He was looking to go big just finding Babar at mid-off. Johnny Bairstow (5runs from 8 balls) went out in a similar fashion getting caught at short-extra-cover. Moeen Ali (1 run off 2 balls) was bowled by Mohammad Hafeez in the 14th over. 43 runs were needed from 30 balls. Eoin Morgan Launched 2 sixes off Hasan Ali in the 18th over to cut the deficit small. 16 needed from 12 at that point of the match.
Hafeez bowled Malan (31 runs from33 balls) while making room to cut the ball. England needed 12 from 8 balls after the wicket. Liam Livingstone hit a humongous six on the first ball of his innings. He was out the next ball caught at short 3rd man while going for another six.
Morgan (21 runs from 12 balls, 1(4) 2(6)) also departed stepping out and looking to clear long-on. Hasan Ali got the wicket with Shadab Khan completing the catch. Chris Jordan scored the winning runs for England. It was a nerve-breaking encounter.
Mohammad Hafeez took 3 wickets for 28 runs. While Usman Qadir, Hasan Ali, Shadab Khan, and Imad Wasim all got 1 wicket each.
England took the series 2-1 in the Eng vs Pak T20I. Jason Roy was awarded man of the match. While Liam Livingstone won the player of the series.
watch the highlights of Eng vs Pak T20I 3rd match down here.
