ISLAMABAD: A responsible captain inning of 84 off 51 balls by Jos Buttler drove England to a decent total of 183 against Pakistan in the 2nd match of the four-match T20I series being played at Birmingham on Saturday. Although Pakistani bowlers managed to take wickets with intervals, but the skipper of England controlled the other end and smashed Pakistani pacers and spinners around the ground to take his side to a decent total.
Earlier, winning the toss, Pakistan’s skipper Babar Azam invited England to bat. Both English openers Jos Buttler and Phil Salt took a quick start and took the score to 25 in the first 3 overs. However, in the fourth over bowling change worked as Imad Waseem dismissed Salt on the very first ball.
He was replaced by Will Jacks who contributed 71 runs partnership with Buttler before he was dismissed by Haris Rauf on 37. The number four batter Jonny Bairstow also added some quick runs to the total but was removed by Shaheen Afridi on 25.
After Bairstow, no other batter stayed on the crease as Pakistani bowlers took some quick wickets. However, Jos Buttler protected one hand of the crease, completed his half-century and took the scoreboard ahead.
He scored 85 runs while facing 51 balls. In 20 overs England scored 183 for the loss of 7 wickets.
From Pakistan Shaheen Afridi was the leading wicket-taker with 3 for 40 in his 4-over spill. Muhammad Amir and Imad Waseem took 2 wickets each.
Pakistan Squad
1 Babar Azam (capt), 2 Saim Ayub, 3 Mohammad Rizwan (wk), 4 Fakhar Zaman, 5 Shadab Khan, 6 Azam Khan, 7 Iftikhar Ahmed, 8 Imad Wasim, 9 Shaheen Shah Afridi, 10 Haris Rauf, 11 Mohammad Amir
England Squad
1 Jos Buttler (capt/wk), 2 Phil Salt, 3 Will Jacks, 4 Jonny Bairstow, 5 Harry Brook, 6 Moeen Ali, 7 Liam Livingstone, 8 Chris Jordan, 9 Jofra Archer, 10 Adil Rashid, 11 Reece Topley
Pakistan Tour of England
May 22: First T20I at Leeds
May 25 (today): Second T20I at Birmingham
May 28: Third T20I at Cardiff
May 30: Fourth T20I at The Oval
Pakistan’s Initial Games in T20 World Cup 2024
June 6: Pakistan vs USA, Dallas
June 9: Pakistan vs India, New York
June 11: Pakistan vs Canada, New York
June 16: Pakistan vs Ireland, Lauderhill
