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Pakistan all-rounder Shadab Khan rescued his T20 Blast side Sussex from a fifth straight loss when his innings took the team to an unassailable total of 181 against Middlesex at The Lord's on Thursday, June 8. His 24-ball fifty was enough in the end as Middlesex failed to chase down the target despite a fighting Stephen Eskinazi carrying the bat with 94 off 62.
Shadab had a partnership going with skipper Ravi Bopara (38 off 26), who rejuvenated their innings, taking them from 55-3 to a respectable total. The duo combined brilliantly, adding 91 runs to the scoreboard off just 47 deliveries. Eventually. Shadab smashed 59 runs from only 30 balls with 4 fours and 5 sixes at a strike rate of 196.66.
Shadab was caught by Martin Andersson off the bowling of Ryan Higgins before Bopara himself was dismissed by the batter. Tom Helm.
The Pakistani was however wicketless with the ball. He conceded 30 runs at a rate of 7.50 which was enough to restrict the opponents.
Eskinazi took 31 balls to reach 50 with 1 six and five fours. At the other end, Pieter Malan (36 off 29) was helping in the comeback but Bopara ended a stand of 85 when he bowled Malan for 36. At that time, 79 was needed from the final 48 balls.
Speaking after the match, Shadab said, Shadab said: “It’s amazing because no-one gets the opportunity to easily play at Lord’s. We were very positive and had nothing to lose here as we haven’t started well as a team. We wanted to win badly, and we were on the right side tonight.”
Adding to this, he said, “We are the most experienced players in our team, so we had to use that experience. I didn’t start well in this tournament, so that innings I needed badly as well.
“It’s the beauty of cricket. We started well the first four overs with the ball, but they finished the powerplay well. When Ravi and I bowled our eight overs we were in the game at that time, and at the end Tymal used all his experience and bowled well.”
