Carrying the fabled ‘Bazz-ball’ approach into the only format it should be implied to be carried out in. England chose violence today, as they defeated Pakistan in a walkover.
Squads.
England.
Philip Salt, Alex Hales, Ben Stokes, Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Jos Buttler (c & wk), Sam Curran, Chris Jordan, Adil Rashid, David Willey, Dawid Malan, Chris Woakes, Reece Topley, Mark Wood.
Pakistan.
Haider Ali, Shan Masood, Shadab Khan (c), Mohammad Nawaz, Khushdil Shah, Iftikhar Ahmed, Asif Ali (wk), Mohammad Wasim Jr, Naseem Shah, Mohammad Hasnain, Haris Rauf, Fakhar Zaman, Shaheen Afridi, Mohammad Rizwan, Babar Azam.
As it happened.
Buttler won the toss and opted to field first. Rizan and Babar were both rested after playing a significant amount of cricket in recent months. Shadab took over as captain. Due to weather, the match was truncated to 19 overs apiece.
Shan Masood and Haider Ali, the new-faced opening duo, got off to a strong start before Haider threw it away. Captain Shadab surprised everyone by walking in at three, and Pakistan were in a fantastic position to put up a big total as they were batting at 11 per over at the end of the mandatory powerplay.
The perpetual issue of Pakistan didn’t get any better following their Asia cup display as the middle order misfired yet again. Except for Khudil, who was sent back after his first ball, Shadab, Ifikthar, Khusidil, and Asif all got leads but were unable to convert.
Buttler used eight bowlers to give his players enough overs to adjust. Willey was the highlight of the bowlers, securing a 2-fer as others chipped in as well. Paksitan managed to score 160 runs in 19 overs.
England’s innings.
Pakistan’s greatest weapon since its inception, their bowlers once again prevailed over the opposition as they sent Phil Salt in the second over of the match.
Ben Stokes came in at three and made his intentions obvious by tormenting Pakistani bowlers from the first delivery. He hit an 18-ball 36 and was sent back just before the powerplay ended.
England were 104 for the loss of four at the midway point as Harry Brook and Sam Curran took matters into their own hands.
They put on a 59-run partnership to win in 15 overs, with scores of 45 and 33.
Four of England’s six batters batted with a strike rate of 175. Pakistan had a bad day on the field.
