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Without the services of their skipper Babar Azam and in-form opener Mohammad Rizwan, Pakistan looked a pale shadow of the team that beat New Zealand in the Tri-series final few days ago. England chased down the target of 161 without breaking a sweat with 26 balls to spare in a rain-curtailed 19 overs per side game at The Gabba, Brisbane.
Decent start
After winning the toss, Jos Buttler opted to field first. In the absence of regular openers, Shan Masood and Haider Ali opened the innings. They started off well against Ben Stokes, Sam Curran and put on 49 runs for the opening wicket. Stokes got the breakthrough in the fifth over with the wicket of Haider (18). Stand-in skipper Shadab Khan promoted himself up the order.
Masood got a good start but could not convert it into a big score. The left-handed batter got out to Liam Livingstone after the powerplay scores. He scored 39 runs from 22 deliveries including seven boundaries. David Willey dismissed Shadab in the 11th over. The all-rounder scored a run-a-ball 14. Off the next delivery Khushil Shah got out for a golden duck.
Chaotic second half
Despite the two quick wickets, Pakistan were in a good position in the 11th over with 96 runs on the board. Iftikhar Ahmed (22) and Asif Ali (14) tried to stitch a partnership but both of them got involved in comical run outs. Pakistan could not finish well despite Mohammad Wasim Jr's 16-ball 26 cameo. They posted a total of 160/8 in 19 overs.
Shaheen returns
Pakistan started off well as Shaheen Afridi looked in good rhythm on his return after injury. From the other end, Naseem Shah uprooted Philip Salt's (1) stumps to put England under pressure. Opener Alex Hales struggled to score but Ben Stokes made used of fielding restrictions. Stokes scored 18-ball 36 including two fours and three sixes before getting dismissed by Wasim Jr. Just after powerplay overs, Hales (9) got dismissed by Shadab and it looked like Pakistan are dominating the proceedings.
Poor fielding effort
The two dropped catches in the 10th over cost Pakistan as they lost momentum. Liam Livingstone was dropped twice off consecutive deliveries in Mohammad Hasnain's over. Wasim Jr got Livingstone's (28) wicket in the 11th over. In the absence of Rizwan, the wicketkeeping was mediocre and there were plenty of misfields too.
Electric finish
In the next few overs, Harry Brook and Sam Curran launched a brutal onslaught. The unbeaten 59-run partnership from just 25 deliveries saw England get over the line in the 15th over. Brook scored 45 runs from 24 deliveries including two fours and four sixes. On the other end, Sam batted with a scintillating strike rate of 235.71 and scored 33 runs from just 14 deliveries. The southpaw hit two fours and three sixes in his destructive cameo.
Captain blames poor fielding
“I think all the departments (were poor) but still the fielding is an eye opener for us, we didn't grab the catches and misfielded a lot. Hopefully sit together and talk about these things. It is good for us, he's (Afridi) our top class bowler and best in the world, he bowled just two overs but still he found his rhythm. I think everything is sorted, all the combinations are sorted, when Babar and Rizwan come back everything will be fine. We didn't perform well but it is a good thing this was a warmup game,” Shadab said in the post-match presentation.
