(Cricket news) Babar Azam scored his second T20I hundred as he made 110* off 66 which included 11 fours and 5 sixes, it came in a record stand with Mohammad Rizwan who also contributed with a well made 88* off 51( 5 fours and 4 sixes). Pakistan prevailed in a high-scoring encounter at the National Stadium in Karachi in the second T20I to square the series against England. In the first innings, Moeen Ali made a 23-ball fifty as they posted an imposing target of 199 . But the hosts did not break a sweat winning with three deliveries to spare thanks to the record breaking opening stand of Babar and Rizwan. Pakistan became the first team to achieve success in a 200 plus run chase with all their wickets intact.
Pakistan got off to the best possible start in the chase as the openers made a half-century stand inside the powerplay. By the time the power play ended, Babar struck five fours while Rizwan had scored two fours and one six as Pakistan raced to 59/0. In comparison to England at the same stage of the innings, Pakistan were seven runs ahead and had all their wickets intact. Rizwan got lucky when Salt failed to grab the ball after Adil Rashid balled a beautiful googly which got a thick outside off Rizwan’s bat. The Pakistani opener went on to bring up a 30-ball fifty for his 18th T20I half-century. After the power play both the batters dealt in sixes, making most of the conditions that had improved for the batters in the second innings, as they raced down to 151/0 after 15 overs, bringing down the equation to 48 off 30.
It was the beginning of the Babar as he only took 22 deliveries to go from 50-100, hitting four sixes and three fours, becoming the first Pakistan player to score two centuries in T20Is. Pakistan needed 20 off the last two overs and they coasted to the target with 10 wickets in hand. Alex Hales and Phil Salt gave England a good start, they got a boundary every other over in the powerplay. They managed to get a quick-fire 42-run stand, however, Hales was bowled by Shahnawaz Dahani when he attempted a pull while Dawid Malan was bowled around his legs. England ended the first six overs with a score of 48/2.
On a wicket that was on the slower side, especially in the first innings Pakistan tried to strangle the England batters with spin at both ends. But Duckett brought out the sweeps, reverse-sweep and scoop to ensure regular boundaries. Salt slowed down by not adding to his boundary count as he eventually fell to Haris Rauf who cleaned up after a 27-ball 30. Duckett then fell to Nawaz when he deflected a sweep onto the stumps ending a fine 22-ball knock for 43 runs. Harry Brook brought some parity in the England innings when they collected 85 runs in the middle overs while they scored 66 runs in the last five overs. Hasnain was the most expensive Pakistani bowler conceding 51 runs as Moeen finished off the innings with two sixes to get to his sixth T20I fifty.
Brief scores: England 199/5 in 20 overs (Moeen Ali 55*, Ben Duckett 43; Haris Rauf 2-30) lost to Pakistan 203/0 in 19.3 overs (Babar Azam 110*, Mohammad Rizwan 88*) by 10 wickets.
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