AUSTRALIA: England defeated Pakistan by 6 wickets in the practice match of the T20I World Cup 2022. Stokes, Curran, and Brook all played their crucial parts.
Earlier, Pakistan were unable to post a competitive total; they only managed to score 160 in 19 overs. This shows how dependent Pakistan is on Babar and Rizwan as a duo.
Pakistan Innings
England won the toss and, as anticipated, elected to bowl first. Babar and Rizwan were both missing the match, and hence Shan Masood and Haider Ali opened the innings.
Both the batsmen started hitting boundaries pretty much as soon as they arrived. Pakistan scored 66 runs in the powerplay but lost Ali and soon after that, Masood (39) was also dismissed by Sam Curran.
After the end of the 10th over, Pakistan managed to score 89 runs with Shadab Khan and Iftikhar Ahmed at the crease.
Just after the drinks break, David Willey gave Pakistan a massive blow by removing Shadab Khan and Khusdil Shah on two consecutive deliveries. This left Pakistan 100-4 at the end of the 11th over.
In the very next over, Iftikhar got run out, leaving Pakistan in more trouble. After a brief pause due to weather conditions (rain), the game was forced to 19 overs per side.
After the brief pause, Nawaz also lost his wicket, leaving Pakistan in a very difficult position. With the help of a six and a four from Wasim, Pakistan stood at 147-6 in the 17th over.
But Pakistan kept losing wickets at a rapid pace and was now depending only on tailenders for some last-over bonus runs. Pak manages to score 160 runs in 19 overs with the help of 26 off 16.
Wasim and Masood were the only key contributors. Willey took 2 wickets while Stokes, Curran, Jordan, and Livingston all shared one wicket each.
England Innings
Despite having Buttler, Phil Salt got an opportunity to open with Alex Hales. Although Rizwan didn’t bat, he was seen keeping behind the wickets.
Also, the left-arm quickie Shaheen Shah Afridi was seen taking the new ball after his long injury.
Naseem Shah gave Pakistan what they needed, an early blow, by bowling out Salt with a slower one.
But Stokes’ handy cameo (36 off 18) helped England reach 51 runs at the end of the power play.
England found itself in trouble after this because both Stokes and Hales got out in a short period.
Livingstone and Brook both handled the situation quite well, and England, therefore, managed to score 97 runs in 10 overs. But after the 10th over, Wasim removed Livingstone (28) from the game, who was already playing on many lives.
Pakistan’s sloppy fielding and mindless bowling then made it easy for Brook and Curran to take charge and accelerate the game to victory.
Brook scored a fantastic 45 * off 24 and Curran made a quickfire 29* off 14. They both led England to a 6-wicket win and 26 balls to spare.
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