LAHORE, Sep 30 (APP):English opener Phil Salt played the career best volatile innings of 88 n.o. off 41 balls to overhaul a competitive total against Pakistan and level the seven match series 3-3 in the 6th match at Gaddafi Stadium on Friday night.
England overhauled a reasonable total of 169-6 by Pakistan with quite ease in the 15th over with 33 balls to spare.
So powerful was the assault by the English batters that the Pakistani bowling looked spineless and helpless and reminded of the absence of Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf and Naseem Shah.
The inexperience of Pakistan’s pace trio was exposed when the English batters spanked Shahnawaz Dahani, Mohammad Wasim and Aamer Jamal to all parts of the ground. The opening pair of Phil Salt and Alex Hales was equally harsh against Mohammad Nawaz. The English openers scored the fastest opening partnership of 50 runs in mere three overs.
So reckless was the carnage that Babar Azam had to bring Shadab Khan within the power-play and he was successful in breaking the opening partnership but the bowlers were not able to stop the run flow as the English batters scored 82-1 in the first overs.
Pakistan Captain Babar Azam admitted at the post-match ceremony that Phil Salt took the game away from them through his forceful power-hitting.
Shadab Khan was the most successful bowler for Pakistan as he claimed 2 wickets for 34 runs in four hours. The other bowlers were costly and bled runs all over the park. Dahani conceded 33 while Aamer Jamal 30 in two overs each. Mohammad Nawaz gave away 43 runs in his quota of four overs while Mohammad Wsim conceded 29 runs in 2.3 overs and all went wicketless.
Alex Hales hit 27(12), David Malan 26 (18) while Ben Ducket scored 26 n.o. off 16 balls.
Earlier, skipper Babar Azam proved to be the most reliable batter for Pakistan when he scored 87 n.o. in a match where the middle order batting left many questions to be answered.
Babar Azam also became the first Pakistan batter to reach 3000 runs and became the joint quickest to the mark alongside Virat Kohli of India who had reached 3000 runs in 81 innings.
Mohammad Haris debuted for Pakistan as Mr. reliable Mohammad Rizwan was rested but the debutant could not leave an impression and fell cheaply in the third over of the Pakistan innings. Shan Masood fell cheaply as well when he was adjudged lbw.
Iftikhar Ahmed played a knock of 31 runs but failed to finish while Asif Ali 9 (9) failed yet again to finish the innings. Mohammad Nawaz scored 12(7) while Haider Ali could score 18 (13).
Sam Curran was most successful and economical bowler for England who claimed 2 wickets for 27 runs. David Willey also returned figures of 4-0-32-2, Reece Topley 4-0-31-1, While Gleeson picked one wicket for 39 runs. Adil Rasheed went wicketless and conceded 38 runs in four overs.
In a prior team ceremony, Mohammad Rizwan gave debut cap to Mohammad Haris.
Pakistan meets England in the last match of the series on Sunday evening at the same venue.
Follow the PNI Facebook page for the latest news and updates.
