ENG Vs PAK 1st T20I Match Highlights
England defeated Pakistan with a convincing six-wicket victory as Alex Hales made an impressive comeback (53 of 40balls) to international cricket.
Hales’s fantasy comeback in a way came true as he led the run chase, scoring runs at a strike rate of 133, and guiding his team to a 159-run victory with four balls remaining. Hales hasn’t played for England since 2019. The English players performed admirably in every aspect as they competed in their first match on Pakistani soil in 17 years.
After winning the toss, England’s captain Moeen Ali decided to bowl. Mohammad Rizwan, the opener, maintained his solid batting form with an entertaining 46-ball 68, and captain Babar Azam contributed 24 runs from 31 balls.
Pakistani middle-order batsmen once again failed to build the innings forwards, as Luke Wood picked up three wickets in his four-over spell, Adil Rashid picked up two wickets, Sam Curran and Moeen Ail picked up one wicket each to restrict Pakistan for 158/7
However, with some strong bowling and fielding, Philip Salt, Dawid Malan, and Ben Duckett were all removed from the game, but Hales was essential in keeping the scoreboard rolling. Usman Qadir initially created hope for Pakistanis to make a come-back after capturing the wickets of Malan and Duckett, but Brook and Hales came were in their own world at that point, Leading England towards winning the match.
Luke was awarded the Player of the match for his incredible (53 off 40 balls) matching the winning performance. In a post-match interview, Alex stated saying “It was an enjoyable debut. It’s different from England, it was a team performance and great to start with a win. They were off to a good start, so it was important to restrict them at the back end with wickets and the batters then did a good job.”
In the seven-game series, which will act as preparation for the T20 World Cup in Australia in October and November, England now has a 1-0 lead.
