After a humiliating 3-0 whitewash loss to a second string England team led by Ben Stokes in the recently concluded ODI Series. The Pakistan Cricket team skipper Babar Azam would be hoping to seek redemption by winning the 3 match T20 international Series against an Eoin Morgan led England side.
Pakistan Tour of England – T20 Series Schedule
Friday 16th July 2021 – 1st T20 – England vs Pakistan to be played at Trent Bridge Nottingham – 6:30 PM Local time, 11 PM IST
Sunday 18th July 2021 – 2nd T20 – England vs Pakistan to be played at Headingley, Leeds – 2:30 PM Local time, 7 PM IST
Tuesday 20th July 2021 – 3rd T20 – England vs Pakistan to be played at Old Trafford, Manchester – 6:30 PM Local time, 11 PM IST
Pakistan Squad for T20 Series vs England
Babar Azam (Captain), Shadab Khan (Vice-Captain), Arshad Iqbal, Azam Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wicketkeeper), Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sharjeel Khan and Usman Qadir.
England Squad for T20 Series vs Pakistan
Eoin Morgan (Captain), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Jake Ball, Tom Banton, Jos Buttler, Tom Curran, Lewis Gregory, Chris Jordan, Liam Livingstone, Saqib Mahmood, Dawid Malan, Matt Parkinson, Adil Rashid, Jason Roy and David Willey.
England vs Pakistan 1st T20 Review
Pakistan started off the T20 series on a positive note when Eoin Morgan won the toss and elected to field in the 1st T20. Pakistan came out with an aggressive intent with Babar and Rizwan as Openers and with their batsmen firing especially their captain Babar Azam who led from the front and scored 85 off 49 deliveries and was supported nicely by Pakistan Wicketkeeper batsman Mohammed Rizwan who continued his great form and contributed 63 runs off 41 deliveries and saw Team Pakistan post their highest total in T20 internationals when they posted 232/6 in 20 overs.
Which fan would had thought that Team Pakistan would fight so bravely and post their highest ever T20 international total of 232/6 especially when an England B-team had handed them an embarrassing 3-0 whitewash in the ODIs which was a result that even England fans would not had foreseen, And any players who play powerplay casino could had earned a lot if they predicted the opposite.
England did not get a good start as Shaheen Shah Afridi made early inroads by dismissing Dawid Malan and Jonny Bairstow in his opening spell and with Hasnain dismissing Moeen Ali for 1 saw England slumping to 48/3 in 4.3 overs and were staring at a big defeat. Liam Livingstone staged a brave lone fightback as he built crucial partnerships with the lower order and went to score one of the fastest T20 international hundreds when he scored 103 off just 43 deliveries with 6 fours and 9 towering sixes and threatened to single handedly lead England to a memorable victory! but alas! he couldn’t as Shadab Khan had him caught in the deep by Shaheen Shah Afridi and when he fell England’s score was 183/7 in 16.3 overs still requiring 50 runs off 21 balls.
The Pakistani pacers Haris Rauf and Shaheen Shah Afridi returned to bowl the 19th and 20th overs and bowled out England for 201 and Pakistan won the 1st T20 by 31 Runs and Shaheen Shah Afridi was awarded the Man of the Match award for taking 3/30 including the wickets of Malan & Bairstow in the 1st powerplay.
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