The Men in Green ended the Karachi leg of their historic seven-match T20I series against England with a thrilling 3-run heist on September 25. The hosts successfully defended a modest score of 166/4 on another flat pitch at the National Stadium, thanks to a game-changing 19th over by their first-choice seamer Haris Rauf.
Needing 9 runs off the last two overs with three wickets in hand, England lost their way against Rauf’s terrific exhibition at the death, losing two wickets, including the dangerous Liam Dawson, and managing only five runs. In the 20th, a horrible mix-up between Reece Topley and Adil Rashid completed Pakistan’s highly impressive comeback to level the series 2-2.
Pakistan had the opposition on the mat at one stage in a see-saw fixture, with the visitors requiring 45 off the last 4 overs. But England came roaring back in the contest via a fantastic end-overs aggressor’s knock from Dawson, who produced 24 runs off the 18th over against Mohammad Hasnain on his way to 34 off 17 deliveries before his dismissal turned the game on its head again.
England will be disappointed not to close out a chase where they had Pakistan under the pump, with their set batters Ben Duckett (33), Harry Brook (34) and Moeen Ali (29) failing to kick on and put substantial individual scores on the board.
Rauf was the pick of the bowlers (3/32) for Pakistan with a three-wicket burst and a game-transforming over at the death. Another of Pakistan’s saviours with the ball was left-arm spinner Mohammad Nawaz (3/35), who also bagged three wickets off his four-over quota.
Like England, Pakistan too failed to maximise their time out in the middle, posting a middling score of less than 170 on what was another good batting track in Karachi.
Mohammad Rizwan top-scored with his 88 off 67 balls, including 9 fours and 1 six to dominate the game at his end. But the rest of the Pakistan batting unit failed to come to the party, with 36 from skipper Babar Azam proving to be the next best score. The cameo where Asif Ali blasted a couple of sixes in his 3-ball 13 gave his team some breathing space.
Brief scores
Pakistan 166/4 in 20 overs (Rizwan 88, Azam 36; Topley 2/37) beat England 163/10 in 19.2 overs (Dawson 34; Rauf 3/32, Nawaz 3/35) by 3 runs
