Well, well, well. For the first time in the series, England are behind, and for the third time in the series, they’ll be rather baffled about how they lost that… As in Karachi on Sunday, their bowlers did the needful to cramp a reticent Pakistan batting display, with the honorable exception of the magnificent Mohammad Rizwan, but once again, their profligate batting let them down…
this time in the face of some outstandingly restrictive spin bowling through the middle overs that left Moeen Ali with too much ground to make up at the end. Huge props to Jamal on debut too. A tough challenge to close that over out, but he stuck to his best ball and seized the day!
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Pakistan vs England 5th T20 Match Summary | Pakistan won by 5 runs
Rehan Today: “You gotta love this 7-match series. It’s getting better with each match.”
ShahSafeer: “Pakistan don’t win games easily and they don’t let opposition win them comfortably either. The most entertaining team in this sport!! “
Fareed: “England needed 146 to win in 20 overs, 2 front line bowlers Rouf and Waseem gave away 73 runs in 8 overs.. still what a win for Pakistan”
Holes out to long-on! Another big wind-up from Woakes, it was a shot to nothing with Moeen on strike for the final over, but another slower ball confounds his intentions. Iftikhar takes a comfortable catch, and now it’s 15 to win in six, Moeen or bust…
Chris Woakes c Iftikhar Ahmed b Haris Rauf 10 (12b 1×4 0x6) SR: 83.33
Up and away, Jamal strikes second ball! Curran looked to get stuck into the new boy, backing to leg to free the off side, but he got right underneath the stroke as Jamal followed him down the leg side, high to the edge of the cover ring, and easily pouched by Wasim, tracking back! England are sinking rapidly here!
Sam Curran c Mohammad Wasim b Aamer Jamal 17 (11b 1×4 0x6) SR: 154.54
Fuller length, bites into the pad, and that looks stone dead! Malan toppled into an off-balance drive… the ball was tight to his stumps and got tighter still… is there an inside-edge? No … that’s clipping leg, and England are five down!
Dawid Malan lbw b Iftikhar Ahmed 36 (35b 6×4 0x6) SR: 102.85
Struck on the front pad, big appeal for lbw… and Pakistan review Aleem Dar’s not out decision. Length ball, possibly a slider and Brook plays all around it, struck on the knee roll – and Hawk-Eye has it hitting leg stump! Shadab strikes, putting the skids under England again
Harry Brook lbw b Shadab Khan 4 (9b 0x4 0x6) SR: 44.44
And he strikes first ball! Short and pulled, straight to deep square leg! Salt rocks back but picks out one of only two men allowed outside the ring. Fist-pumping celebration from Rauf, and the crowd are suddenly finding their voices
Phil Salt c sub (Khushdil Shah) b Haris Rauf 3 (6b 0x4 0x6) SR: 50
Tossed up and sliced to backward point! Never mind the quicks, Nawaz is among the poles early. Gave this a bit of air and it grip, taking the outside edge as Hales swung hard through the line. Straightforward take to the man inside the ring, Pakistan have their first
Alex Hales c Shadab Khan b Mohammad Nawaz 1 (3b 0x4 0x6) SR: 33.33
The first four matches of this T20 series will be played in National Stadium, Karachi, while the remaining 3 will be hosted in Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore.
Pakistan Squad includes, Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Asif Ali, Khushdil Shah, Haider Ali, Shan Masood, Shadab Khan, and more. Pakistan has prepared to chase England Cricket Team with 8 Right-Handed Batsman, 5 fast bowlers and 5 spinners.
Mark Butcher and Wasim Akram have been running their eye over the ground, which was underwater yesterday. It’s very humid today, with a lot of water still coming up from the outfield. Soft underfoot, the surface looks cracked but shiny, much like the Karachi surface. It could be slower than that pitch, and there could be a dew factor under the lights, so maybe advantage England already.
“Lots of bugs on the outfield,” says Matt Roller. Reminds me of the first game I watched in Pakistan, at Lahore in October 2000, when Darren Gough resorted to running in with goggles to combat the swarms under lights!
England win the toss and bowl. “Looks a good wicket, don’t think it’s going to change,” says Moeen. “Most important is to win the game, fantastic series so far. Great to be a part of, got to be on your A game against Pakistan.”
Malan, Curran, Woakes and Mark Wood are in for England.
Babar would have bowled first, instead aiming to defend 160-170. “Lots of positive things, got to step up for the World Cup.”
Three changes, including Shadab in for Qadir, and Jamal for Hasnain.
Pakistan 1 Babar Azam (capt), 2 Mohammad Rizwan (wk), 3 Shan Masood, 4 Iftikhar Ahmed, 5 Haider Ali, 6 Asif Ali, 7 Shadab Khan, 8 Mohammad Nawaz, 9 Aamer Jamal, 10 Mohammad Wasim, 11 Haris Rauf
England 1 Phil Salt (wk), 2 Alex Hales, 3 Dawid Malan, 4 Ben Duckett, 5 Harry Brook, 6 Moeen Ali (capt), 7 Sam Curran, 8 Chris Woakes, 9 David Willey, 10 Adil Rashid, 11 Mark Wood
6.54pm Five minutes to go until the toss, which will once again be conducted by Moeen Ali for England. Buttler still playing it safe after his calf injury.
Ruki Abdulhusse: “Just got my hubby to buy a big box of Lahori Kulchas for me to devour in preparation for another humdinger.”
Nali Ratnavibus: “Shadab Khan might be playing today?! Woop, shabab your mouth, I don’t believe you! “
Arslan: “In Berlin, at my workplace. The match starts at 16:30. Already done with today’s work, and will be watching the match in the office. ” Einfach klasse!
6.42pm There are signs within the stadium that Shadab Khan is playing tonight, muses Matt Roller. “Taking high catches, chatting to Big Saq etc…” His instincts rarely let him down…
inamullah: “I’m in the office waiting for the game. All three matches in Lahore are sold out. You can imagine how much excited Lahori’s are.”
Adnan: “Pakistan has to be a bit of an aggressive thinker when it comes to the batting order. If the openers have played 15 overs, then the next man in should be Asif Ali and not Shan Masood.” Yes, that ought to be a takeaway from his 13 from 3 the other night. Crucial runs, so it turned out!
Mustafa Moudi: “A Miller and a Pant is playing the India Vs SA T20I currently and a Miller and a Pant is commentating in that and this T20I !!” I assure you, I am the only Miller in town right now… and this might be the only match in town by the time the game gets underway!
6.20pm Jos Buttler, who is not playing today, has been talking about England’s walking wounded ahead of the World Cup. Lots of updates herein, as it will be a significantly different squad that lines up in Perth for their opening game on October 22.
6.16pm So, that’s a lot of team tweaks from Sunday’s humdinger in Karachi. The toss is lurking in about 45 minutes’ time, so there’s oodles of opportunity to digest the implications.
Sartaj Hussain: “Have watched videos of debutant Amir Jamal bowling in nets. He has bowling similarity with Umran Malik. Isn’t it? ” I must concede, I’ve never seen him in action, but if that’s the case then bring it on!
Sripathi Venkat: “This game may be important to babar as he is just 61 runs away from getting to 3000!! T20i runs. If he gets it today he beats the KING himself Virat Kohli by one innings “
Indeed, that is one of many nuggets in the match preview, which is here to pass your time.
JOYDEEPSINGHGIL: “I did read the miller preview eng never played a t20i in this Gaddafi stadium before they’ve played three international Odis in 2005-06 in this stadium” Hurrah! We have a customer!
6.12pm Matt Roller is already at the stadium, and he has so much intel, it will barely fit in one update. First things first, Pakistan will be playing a debutant today. Amir Jamal has been named for his first cap, and said in a statement earlier: “It’s an honor to represent my country. It’s hard to express your emotions in words. Wasim Akram is my ideal. I am happy that i will be representing Pakistan today.”
Furthermore, there’s been evidence of Chris Woakes marking out his run-up, for what will be his first England appearance since March. “Looks like Mark Wood and Willey playing too,” Roller adds. “Luke Wood hasn’t travelled, and is understood to be ill.”
6.07pm Afternoon all, welcome to Lahore Lahore! Yes, England are back in the Jewel of the Punjab, in a continuation of their restorative tour of Pakistan, and with the series locked at 2-2 with three to play, it could not be more perfectly poised.
Well, it could perhaps, as there’s been a lot of rain around the city this week, so much so that they briefly considered postponing the match until tomorrow. Happily that hasn’t come to pass, but the conditions at the Gadaffi may be something of an unknown.