Pakistan were cheered on by a raucous Old Trafford crowd who were predominantly decked out in their green and they responded with an emphatic performance to match it, with what has been a goodwill tour of England this summer ending in nine-wicket victory for the visitors in the one-off Twenty20 international.
It began with a stifling bowling performance, including three wickets for the man of the match Wahab Riaz, that shut down England’s innings for a sub-par 135 for seven, before their openers, Sharjeel Khan and Khalid Latif, blasted quickfire half-centuries to ensure the simplest of targets was negotiated for the loss of only the former with 31 balls to spare.
Pakistan’s new Twenty20 captain, Sarfraz Ahmed, lauded it as a blueprint performance in the shortest format, while his opposite number, Eoin Morgan, was left with a sense of what could have been, conceding his decision to bat at the toss was a poor one. Conditions, he claimed, swung dramatically between the two innings and meant his power-hitters never got going.
“We are not a timid batting team but none of us caught fire,” Morgan said. “Pakistan bowled well but, given the pitch we bowled on, after the dew fell and made it easier, we needed 180 first up. We are on a upward curve in our progression in 50-over and T20 cricket and, if we come up against conditions like that again, it’s going to be difficult to force a win without getting off to a flier.”
Morgan’s side, who were man-for-man the same as those who finished as runners-up in the World Twenty20 in April, actually began brightly enough with 53 runs from the initial six-over power play, thanks in the main to Alex Hales top-scoring with 37 from 26 balls. However, clusters of wickets and an inability to find the boundary in the second half left their innings a somewhat constipated one.
Imad Wasim, too, the Swansea-born all-rounder, was superb for his captain with his left-arm sliding spin returning two for 17 from his four overs, without once being hit to the rope. After opening the bowling, he returned once the field was out to remove both openers in successive overs – Jason Roy lbw playing the reverse sweep on 21, Hales bowled playing its conventional equivalent.
His removal of Hales was immediately followed up at the other end when Joe Root, attempting one of his trademark uppercuts, plopped one of many Hasan Ali slower balls to third man, drawing a response from Jos Buttler of two flogged fours to end the 10th over, suddenly a drought began that would result in the innings limping to something of a sorry end, with his one boundary struck thereafter.
Wahab shone brightest in this second half of England’s innings, touching 96mph at times and beginning his three for 17 – a heartening return for a bowler blasted out of Pakistan’s one-day side at Trent Bridge – by removing the dangerous Buttler for 16 when the wicketkeeper slapped the ball to deep cover.
Hasan, whose two for 24 owed much to his excellent changes in pace, responded with the wicket of Ben Stokes in the following over, with Wahab then completing the three-wicket cluster with Morgan caught behind in the 16th over to leave England on 110 for six.
Moeen Ali and David Willey, the pair who rescued the team against Afghanistan in March, scraped together a run-a-ball 22, with the latter striking the solitary four of the last 10 overs before his demise with three overs of the innings remaining, caught off Wahab.
England’s struggles to tee-off hinted at a pitch that was becoming increasingly tricky to score on, a theory that looked less sound when Pakistan’s openers, Sharjeel and Khalid, emerged in a blizzard of boundaries that brought 74 runs from their first six overs, with 14 fours and one six.
Unlike with the home side this assault did not end as the field spread. Sharjeel has threatened this all tour, with the short-armed flick used in the one-dayers to ruin Stokes’ first over since his manhandling by Carlos Brathwaite in Kolkata earlier in the year, before Adil Rashid was twice hoisted into the night sky as Sharjeel reached a 30-ball half-century.
By the time he top-edged the leg-spinner to cover on 59 attempting a fourth such rocket, the game was finished as a contest, with Khalid, who had opened his account earlier with 16 off a Chris Jordan over, going on to reach his own half-century by slotting Moeen into the stands and finishing 59 not out.
It was Babar Azam who struck the winning runs, crashing Liam Plunkett off the back foot to the cover boundary fence to put Old Trafford – a cacophony of noise all night – into raptures. Even a minor pitch invasion by a handful of supporters could not sour the evening for the visitors, who leave England with bridges rebuilt after the acrimonious 2010 tour, their Test team at No1 in the world and with their Twenty20 side off to a winning start under Sarfraz.
