After receiving a thorough drubbing at the hands of a rookie English squad, the Green Shirts are now in the Caribbean to test their mettle against the West Indies in two tests and five Twenty20 Internationals.
The T20I series was to originally comprised five but was reduced to four T20Is following the rescheduled One Day International (ODI) fixtures in the West Indies’ series against Australia.
As we go to press, news has come from Bridgetown that the first T20i has been washed out due to rain after nine overs. As it turns out, that was enough for Pakistani pacers to set off some eye-popping fireworks.
Brought to bowl the second over in his debut match, right-arm pacer Mohammad Wasim pitched one short of length, getting it to angle in middle and off. The lift and pace was enough to catch Lendl Simmons, who tried in vain to pull, on the right side of his neck.
The physio rushed in and took Simmons off with a sling protecting his right arm. After Simmons was retied hurt, Wasim had his replacement Chris Gayle caught at long-on with a slower ball.
There was plenty of action for the nine overs of the innings as West Indies 85 for loss of 5 wickets, two of them going to Hasan Ali and one each to Wasim, Muhammad Hafeez, and Usman Qadir.
The downfall of the Pakistan Cricket Team throughout the three-match ODI series against England has been heavy on green’s fans. This was not the only poor showcase of performances in the fifty-over format, but similar consistent results have plagued the team for a while.
In the last Pakistan vs England T20I series, the total put up by the men in green whilst batting first has astonished the viewers with terrific knocks. The batsmen played throughout the powerplay and put up mighty runs in the first ten overs, continuing with 152 runs in the second phase.
Henceforth, creating a record for Pakistan as no other team has scored 150+ in the last ten overs of a T20I match. The fiery innings have put up wonders for the crowd at Trent Bridge as they brought up their highest ever T20I total in the format.
After a break the teams were off to the second T20i game. Pakistan won the toss and elected to bowl first. The Pakistani team remained unchanged however changes were made in the English squad, including the regular skipper Eoin Morgan. England was lead by wicketkeeper batsman Jos Butler.
Shaheens did get wickets with new ball and took wickets timely, but Babar Azam felt like 30 runs were given extra. Pakistan was not as energetic in the field as they were in the first T20. England managed to reach the 200 mark. Pakistan needed 201 to win the second T20I and wrap up the series.
Pakistani openers Babar Azam and Muhammad Rizwan did give a good start to the team. Both openers left the crease and the responsibility was now on the middle order batsman. Batting line-up shattered and was unable to finish the game in their favor. In the end Pakistan lost the game by 45 runs and series was leveled 1-1.
The third and final T20I was played on 20 July in Leeds. It was the decider. Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat first. Azam khan and Haris Rauf were rested, Hassan Ali cam back in the team and Usman Qadir also played the last T20I.
Pakistani openers Babar Azam and Muhammad Rizwan were not able to middle the ball timely. Skipper Babar Azam failed to put pressure on the opposition and got out early on in his innings.
Pakistani batsmen failed to set a difficult target for the English. Except Rizwan no batsman scored a fifty or played a respectable innings. A total of 155 was given to the English team. English openers looked like they will finish the game in between 10 to 15 overs. Pakistani bowlers made a comeback and made the hosts struggle to finish chase down the target. In the end, the target wasn’t big enough. The hosts won the T20I series as well.
