Howdy, everyone! Welcome to PtvSports’s coverage of Pakistan vs England, 2nd T20I at Birmingham, PAK vs ENG. The sun is shining and it’s a beautiful morning in Leeds.
Team news
England will not rush Liam Livingstone back as he recovers from a minor knee issue. Mark Wood has not played since March and will be managed through the series due to a knee niggle of his own, which is not considered serious. Buttler has confirmed that he will keep wicket.
Pakistan: 1 Mohammad Rizwan, 2 Saim Ayub, 3 Babar Azam (capt), 4 Fakhar Zaman, 5 Azam Khan (wk), 6 Iftikhar Ahmed/Shadab Khan, 7 Imad Wasim, 8 Shaheen Afridi, 9 Haris Rauf, 10 Mohammad Amir, 11 Naseem Shah
England: 1 Jos Buttler (capt & wk), 2 Phil Salt, 3 Will Jacks, 4 Jonny Bairstow, 5 Harry Brook, 6 Moeen Ali, 7 Sam Curran, 8 Chris Jordan, 9 Jofra Archer, 10 Adil Rashid, 11 Reece Topley
Good afternoon, and welcome to what ought, in theory, to be the first T20I between England and Pakistan, the start of the men’s international season, and the build-up proper to the two teams’ T20 World Cup campaigns.
Unfortunately, the Yorkshire weather appears to have other plans. Here is the current scene in and around Headingley. It is not pretty and it is not relenting. If you were thinking of heading down, I’d hold off for a while yet!
A washout would be a shame on several levels. No imminent return to action for Jofra Archer, and one fewer matches in which to gauge his readiness to compete at the World Cup. And as for Jos Buttler, he was quietly miffed at the clash of club and country that forced him to miss Rajasthan Royals’ IPL play-offs campaign. No doubt he’s watching in the team hotel as they take on RCB in the Eliminator… in fact, we might as well all watch. Nothing to see here for the foreseeable!
Match abandoned! It’s all over red rover. Everyone’s too busy getting caught up in election fever to care anyway. Onwards to Edgbaston on Saturday!
Incidentally, the final deadline for World Cup squads is that very day… will there be time for England to road-test Jofra Archer before the clock runs down? This might have been a very instructive opportunity missed.
Quotes
“That pride was obviously dented and it was a really disappointing competition. But life moves on: it’s a chapter in the book and there’s lessons you learn but we’re presented with a new opportunity, a different format. We go to the West Indies and want to give a better account of ourselves.”
England captain Jos Buttler wants to move on from their early exit in India
“We’re looking forward to facing him. He’s coming back after about a year. As a team we are excited to play against him. We’ve played well against him in the past and I’m sure it’ll be a good contest in the coming games. We have that pace of bowlers in Haris Rauf and Shaheen, so I wouldn’t say we’re fearful, but we are excited.”
Pakistan captain Babar Azam talks up his own fast bowlers ahead of Archer’s return
Shaheen Afridi, Player of the Match: We tried to hit our lines and lengths and that was the reason for our success. Last two matches, we bowled too full at the start. We have a strong bowling attack and have seniors to guide each other so we just needed partnerships in bowling. For us, before World Cup, it’s important to have these games to ready ourselves and there are a few areas to improve. They’re both world class players (Babar and Rizwan) and they know how to play their role and they have done really well on this pitch.
Babar Azam, Pakistan Captain: I think all the credit Ireland batters. They played first (half), but Amir Abbas Shaheen, Hassan Ali bowled well. They were 110 at end of 11th but we took a few wickets and put pressure on them. We were good at the death. We enjoyed crowd presence and we tried to entertain them. We had good communication in the middle because we have played a lot of cricket together; we were trying to play on our strengths with belief and aim was to match with the run rate. Big tournament coming up and this is good practice and now looking forward to the England series. lots of positives for us and we were able to execute our plans. Yes we made a few mistakes which we will sit and discuss.
Lorcan Tucker, Ireland Captain: It was brilliant and a great privilege to captain. It would have been nice to start with a win. It was nice to get out there and experience, who knows what’s going to happen in America. We set up a platform nicely but unfortunately, we couldn’t finish well. We gave everyone a go with the ball. Credit to the lads, they bowled well in tough conditions. Maybe it was a bit disappointing with the result but we had positives from the series. We don’t know what’s going to happen in New York in a couple of weeks but let’s hope for the best.
An outstanding chase from Pakistan. They never looked off-track as Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan batted beautifully together. Rizwan was severe on the bowlers right from the word go, while Babar took some time before unleashing his power-hitting. The Pakistan captain bludgeoned White for four sixes in the 14th over. That was some audacious strokeplay, and it remained the prevailing theme of the innings. Apart from Adair, bowlers had a nightmare out there.
Azam Khan finished with back-to-back incredible performances; he loves batting in these situations. His game plan is simple: go for his shots and seal the game. Shaheen Afridi had a terrific outing once again and looks like he has resumed normal service.
Haider: “Its good to end at a high note… but the real test will be coming next week… when they face Eng at their home condition…”
tarek: “Great job AZAM KHAN- his batting average is now 11.0 after 11 matches. Keep it up big fella !”
Ali Hasni: “In first match i said if babar bats at 3, it will give more stability in this fragile middle order. Seems to have proved my comment right”
ShahSafeer: “Why always Babar has to be blamed for errors, well why does he always steal the show when they win meaningless series? Babar will always be held accountable as that’s what all captains have to go through, plus he’s failed to win a single t20I series against Aus second string, Eng second string and versus NZ random 15 guys (twice) at home on flattest of tracks with full strength team on their side!!! “
Naimat: “Genuine Question: Where is Wasim Jr?He was standout performer in the the last two World cups for us. He is sidelined without any reason and When asked about him in press, Babar simply ignored the question. What could be the reason?” I fail to wrap my head around his omission from the squad; he was superb in the last T20 World Cup and did okay in the ODI World Cup too a few months ago.
Ireland posted a competitive total, but Pakistan were determined for a comeback. Despite losing a few early wickets, their approach was refreshing. Ireland struggled to take wickets consistently, and costly drops from Hume haunted them. Fakhar Zaman was typically severe on the bowlers and led the chase, while Mohammad Rizwan found boundaries with his characteristic methods. As the innings progressed, Ireland’s bowlers found it difficult to contain the batters. Azam Khan got into his groove and the situation was tailor-made for his style of game. While there were many positives for Pakistan, they’ll need to improve their bowling performance. Ireland could have pushed the match to the wire if they had avoided fielding lapses. Despite some questions about Rizwan’s strike rate, he showcased his importance to Pakistan with fantastic acceleration once he got settled. With the right batting partners, Rizwan can be relied upon to soak up pressure and remember he has scored heaps of runs. That is all we have from you from this match. Do join us for the final on Tuesday, which promises to be a fascinating contest. This is Rvel Zahid, signing off.
Babar Azam, Pakistan Captain: I’m relieved, credit to all batters. After bowling, we decided to chase before 18th over. We lost a few wickets early on but we kept the momentum going. It was a good decision (to bowl) because it was overcast and there was a bit of rain. Bowling in second half was good but the way Ireland played last three overs, all credit to them. Fakhar is very experienced and played according to situation which demanded positive intent. It’s a good side, we got positives in this match and will look to give 100% in the next match. Very excited to (see Pakistan fans), it was jam-packed, enjoyed the vibe and hope families will come to support us in the next match.
Paul Stirling, Ireland Captain: Catches cost us a little bit, but that’s how it goes. Important to take those early opportunities. I’m pretty happy with the energy, don’t think there is any major cause of concern (on fielding). Certainly it’s a fair result, they thoroughly deserved the win today as we did in the last game.
Mohammad Rizwan, Player of the Match: They played really well against us. (on batting with Fakhar) It was not an easy chase because the Ireland bowlers knew their conditions better, they gave us difficult time early on, but we decided that chasing 194, we have to attack. You’re always in pressure when you lose especially with World Cup around the corner. (On average of 50) If you look at the average, you are an average player. If you look at the conditions and what game demands that will make you better. We have learned a lot of things from Virat Kohli, I respect him…
Jawad: “Lots of positives from this match for both the teams. Now the final would be interesting “
Ammar: “@ShahSafeer totally disagree. In the semi-final against Australia. We had them 5 down and the bowled terribly to lose the match. Just last series against NZ-C, Shaheen and Nassem got smacked by Mark Chapman. There is enough criticism of our batting. People don’t talk about our poor bowling enough. “
AadilShahzad: “The people are talking here but Azam Khan got his bat talking. “
nabeel: “Surprisingly this is the highest score for Azam khan. Achievement unlocked. “
rameez: “i know my comment won’t be published – but apart from all our errors the biggest reason we choke is the captaincy . Babar is a classy batsman but he is just not cut for t 20 captaincy. “
AHP: “@shahsafeer I get it but why all the blame on Rizwan and Babar it’s like when they win your matches it’s called team performance but when the whole team does not perform the whole blame is put on both of them. It’s called a team given for a reason!!!”
Owais M: “C’mon Rvel you gotta stop with the acting, Azam has failed in like 20 consecutive International innings. Hitting 3 sixes after ages is not worthy of the praise you’re heaping on him”
Zubair Islam : “Live Coverage of match on TV is the worst I have seen in my life…..in 1970s it was black n white but much better. I am now following it on Cricinfo, much better “
GormintAunty: “Hume was a God sent today.- Got Babar out early.- Dropped catches of Rizwan and Fakhar to help them.- Helped Azam get past his HS score.”
MAB: “Look what Azam can do to opposition bowling. Don’t underestimate his experience playing in Caribbean. He can be very very useful.”
Narayan Devkota: “Bangladesh are placed in Group D in T-20 WC along with Sri-Lanka, South Africa, Netherlands and Nepal. Out of the group, D is group of death. With growing competitive cricket we might see few upsets from Group D. Given on the day team like Sri-Lanka and Bangladesh may face defeats against underdogs Nepal and Netherlands ” In this format, anything is possible.
Bangladesh are in the land of the free, home of the brave. To play cricket. Yes, Bangladesh take on USA in the first of three T20Is in Texas. I am Rashad Mahbub, with you for this interesting encounter between nations that have never played against each other before at the international level. Sure, this sounds like a one-sided contest, but this is T20 cricket, where anything is possible.
Prior to the main event and warm-up games of the ICC T20I World Cup 2024, both teams will be playing their final series. In their previous series, the USA defeated Canada 4-0. However, Bangladesh recently defeated Zimbabwe 4-1 in their home series, despite concerns about their death bowling and batting lineup. Bangladesh was greeted this past week in Texas by storms with winds equivalent to hurricanes. The fans of cricket will be hoping for a full game without any weather-related interruptions.
We hope you enjoyed our coverage throughout the series. Until we meet again, stay passionate, stay connected, and keep loving the game. This is Rvel Zahid, saying goodbye on behalf of the entire team at PtvSportsHD.