OVAL: Pakistan captain Babar Azam has urged his middle-order batsmen to step up after a poor performance in the final and fourth T20I of the series against England at The Oval.
The hosts beat Pakistan by seven wickets to win 2-0. He scored 158 runs in 15.3 overs for the loss of seven wickets.
In the post-match presentation, Babar was happy with Pakistan’s performance in the powerplay, but their innings faltered in the middle order.
“England’s bowling is very good so we have to take advantage of it. We have to sort things out for the World Cup. Some injuries but the situation is positive, we play well but we have to win 100%.” he said.
Before that, Buttler invited Babar Azam and Co. The visitors got off to a flying start with the pair of Babar and Mohammad Rizwa.
The Green Shirts were in full control of the match but Babar (36) lost his wicket in the last over of the sixth over to leave Pakistan on 59-1.
Not long after Babar was fired, Rizwan (23) also returned to the pavilion at the front, taking Adil Rashid’s goal.
Pakistan continued to lose wickets at the same interval, but Usman Khan, playing XI over Saim Ayub, scored 38 off 21 balls with the help of three wickets and two sixes.
Fakhar Zaman (9), Azam Khan (0) and Shadab Khan (0) failed in the tournament. Iftikhar Ahmed’s Greenshirts had plenty of chances to take the tour, but the right-handed batsman ended his innings after scoring 21 off 18 balls.
Nasim Shah took 16 wickets as Pakistan’s innings was all out for 157 in 19.5 overs.
For England, Mark Wood, Adil Rashid and Liam Livingstone each scored two goals, while Jofra Archer, Chris Jordan and Moeen Ali scored one.
England started the chase by scoring 78 in a strong performance. Phil Douz and captain Jos Buttler kept the bowling and Pakistan bowlers under pressure.
The pair added 82 with Haris Rauf dismissing Salt (45) without much fanfare for Pakistan fans. He removed Buttler (39) in the second half, Will Jacks (20) cleaned up in the following game.
England completed the target in 15.3 overs for the loss of three wickets courtesy of Jonny Bairstow (28) and Harry Brooke (17).
Harris was the only Pakistani bowler to take a wicket. It shows the number 3/38.
Note that the first and third T20Is of the series were washed out due to rain. In the second T20I, England won by 23 in Birmingham.
