Teamwork powers England to the series victory

Teamwork powers England to the series victory

With a comfortable seven-wicket victory in the fourth Twenty20 International at The Oval in London, England completed a 2-0 series triumph over Pakistan. They got ready for the T20 World Cup in grand form.

Jos Buttler (39 off 21) and Phil Salt (45 off 24) got off to a fast start. They chased a modest target of 159. They added 78 runs in the PowerPlay to reach their first stand of 82 runs. After taking Salt’s wicket, Haris Rauf created a breakthrough by dismissing Buttler and Will Jacks in his next overs. However, due to Jonny Bairstow and Harry Brook’s undefeated partnership, England countered to the target with 27 balls remaining. So it could only accomplish so much.

While Rauf was the only bowler to score a run for Pakistan, Bairstow blasted three sixes and a boundary in his 16-ball 28. Rauf concluded with 3 for 38.

Ultimately, Pakistan’s inability to score runs was the main cause of the defeat. When put in to bat, Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan’s reunion at the top. They produced an immediate benefit in the form of a swift opening stand of 59 runs. However, once the Pakistan captain was removed off the final ball of the PowerPlay, things swiftly collapsed.
Babar made the observation that Pakistan needed more runs from their middle-order during the post-match presentation. Rather than bothering the scoring much, Fakhar Zaman, Shadab Khan, and Azam Khan all fell within nine deliveries. In actuality, Azam and Shadab returned noughts.

Only later, Usman Khan (38) and Iftikhar Ahmed (21) add 40 runs for the sixth wicket They set up Pakistan for their 157 all out. However, ultimately, the runs proved insufficient.

Jofra Archer, who will play his first few matches after March 2023, and Mark Wood (2/35), who played his first white-ball encounter for England since the ODI World Cup in India, must be thrilled with their workouts. Player of the Match went to Rashid for his 2 for 27. It featured wickets of Shadab and Rizwan, but Liam Livingstone (2 for 17) was not far behind.

Brief Scores: England 158/3 (Salt 45, Buttler 39; Rauf 3-38) defeated Pakistan 157 all out in 19.5 overs (Usman 38, Babar 36; Livingstone 2-17, Rashid 2-27, Wood 2-35) by 7 wickets.