Hosts Pakistan were blown away by England in a lopsided game of cricket, where the visitors romped home to victory by 63 runs, establishing a 2-1 lead in the seven-match series.
Youngsters Harry Brook and Den Duckett presented themselves as options to fill the void created by stalwart captain Eoin Morgan’s retirement. The duo’s brilliant batting display has also led many to believe that they could occupy the middle order in the ODI side as well, now that both Morgan and red-ball skipper Ben Stokes have bid adieu to the format.
Brook and Duckett put up a display of some wonderful ball-striking as England posted a towering 221 on the board. Pakistan, in response, however, could not repeat their performance in the last game, managing to score just 158 in 20 overs, despite Shan Masood’s fighting 65.
Babar Azam won the toss and decided to put the opposition into bat. Opener Phil Salt fell early on to a cracking delivery from Mohammed Hasnain, but his partner Will Jacks was in fluent touch at the other end, scoring boundaries. He got his side off to a good start and more than made up for Dawid Malan, who was not at his best in Karachi.
He was eventually dismissed for a well-made 40 off just 22 balls, in an innings that contained eight boundaries, after some relentless bowling from Usman Qadir. Jacks’ dismissal brought Yorkshire superstar Brook and the left-handed Duckett together in the middle.
Brook made an immediate impact as he took on the spinners, advancing down the track to deliver some mighty blows into the stands. Duckett on the other hand, made wonderful use of the sweep shot, as he found an effective way to mitigate the spinners in the middle overs while keeping the scoreboard ticking on.
Meanwhile, Brook was just taking down the Pakistan bowling attack with ease. The two men brought up their half-centuries in quick time as England looked set for a big total. They added 111 runs in the last 50 balls of the innings as Pakistan’s bowling attack was left utterly deflated. Brook did the most damage as he stepped on the gas towards the end, scoring 46 runs off the last 11 deliveries of his innings, finishing with a strike rate of 231, setting the Pakistani batsmen a target of 222.
Pakistan would have been hoping for a repeat of the previous game’s performance, where openers Azam and Mohammed Rizwan chased down the 200-run target without breaking a sweat. However, that was not to be, as left-arm pacer Reece Topley and the experienced Mark Wood ran through the Pakistan top three, reducing them to 21/3 inside five overs. There would be no coming back from this initial setback, as the collapse continued, with Sam Curran and Adil Rashid each picking a wicket apiece, the game well and truly wrapped up with Pakistan at 90/5.
Shan Masood did attempt to salvage the game for his side, but his lone effort was left unsupported as the rest of the Pakistan batting unit crumbled before him. Only three of the ten Pakistan batsmen scored in double digits, with the rest falling like a house of cards.
Wood was in charge of the demolition job, picking up three wickets in an excellent display of fast bowling. Masood’s lone effort of 65* in 40 balls, while valiant, was not enough, as his side could not get close to England’s massive total, losing by 63 runs to go 1-2 down in the series.
Brief scores
England 221 for 3 (Brook 81*, Duckett 70*) beat Pakistan 158 for 8 (Masood 65*, Wood 3-24) by 63 runs
