Pakistan vs England, 1st T20I: England have started the Pakistan tour after 17 years with a win. England defeated Pakistan by a huge margin in the first match of the series of seven T20 Internationals.
Karachi: The England team made a winning start to the tour of Pakistan after 17 years. Moeen Ali-led England beat Pakistan by 6 wickets with 4 balls to spare in the first T20 International match played in Karachi on Tuesday. Pakistan batted first in the match and scored 158 runs in the allotted 20 overs for the loss of 7 wickets. In reply, England chased down the target in 19.2 overs for the loss of 4 wickets. With this win, England took a 1-0 lead in the series of seven T20 Internationals. The second match of the series will be played on Thursday.
Brilliant half-century from Alex Hales
Chasing the target of 158 runs, England did not have a good start. Shahnawaz Dahani got Phil Salt (10) caught by Haider Ali in the third over. Alex Hales (53), who returned to the national team after almost three years from here, shared a 34-run partnership for the second wicket with David Malan (20) and took the score beyond 50. Usman Qadir broke this partnership by catching Malan’s catch on his own ball.
Hales then shared a 34-run partnership with Ben Duckett (21) for the third wicket. Then Qadir gave a third blow to Pakistan by dismissing the duck LBW. Hales then got the support of Harry Brooke (42 *) and the two shared a 55-run partnership for the fourth wicket to take Pakistan out of the match. Harris Rauf put an end to Hales’ innings in the 17th over. Captain Babar Azam took the catch to Hales. The right-handed batsman scored 53 runs in 40 balls with the help of seven fours. On the other hand, Harry Brooke along with Captain Moeen Ali (7 *) gave the team an easy victory.
Brooke scored 43 not out in 38 balls with the help of seven fours. Usman Qadir took the maximum two wickets for Pakistan. One wicket each came in the account of Shahnawaz Dahani and Harris Rauf.
Good bowling by Wood-Rashid
Earlier, England won the toss and invited Pakistan to bat. Captain Babar Azam (31) and Mohammad Rizwan (68) got the hosts off to a great start with a 57-ball 85-run partnership. Rashid broke this partnership by bowling Azam clean. From here the English bowlers made a strong comeback and within 52 runs, Pakistan’s top-5 batsmen were dismissed.
Karan got Hyder Ali (11) caught by Willie. Then Moeen Ali gave a third blow to the hosts by stumping Rizwan. Rizwan scored 68 runs in 46 balls with the help of 6 fours and two sixes. Rashid got Shan Masood (7) caught by Gleason. Iftikhar Ahmed (28) smashed three sixes to help Pakistan reach a respectable score. Luke Wood quickly restricted Pakistan to 158 for three blows. Luke Wood took the highest three wickets for England. Two successes came in the account of Adil Rashid. Sam Karan and Moeen Ali got one success each.