Pakistan almost ended their 2020 Tour of England the same way they started it — the visitors were on the brink of losing a match from a winning position. However, the heartthrobbing cliffhanger ended when the medium pacer Haris Rauf conceded just 11 runs in the last over, while England required 17.
In the 1st Test of the series, they took a 107 run lead and still ended up losing the match and thus the series 1-0.
On Tuesday, in another format with a different captain at the helm, Pakistan won the last T20I of the 3-match series after scoring 190 and having England tottering at 69 for 4 in the 8th over.
Pakistan’s T20 unit is undoubtedly a capable line-up. Remember, just a while ago — till 1 May 2020 — they were the No. 1 ranked T20 side in the world, before losing that mantle to Australia.
England are currently No. 2 in the rankings and will have a chance to move to No. 1 if they beat Australia in the upcoming T20 series between the teams starting on 4 September.
In two consecutive matches in this T20 series, Pakistan scored 195 and 190, yet ended up without clinching the series — however, their last win managed to level the saga 1-1.
The highlight was the batting performance of Mohd Hafeez, who like old wine, is just getting better with age. He has now scored backto-back 50s in his last three innings in T20Is and is only the second batsman to have scored more half-centuries (3) after crossing the age of 39 in the shortest format of the game. Only Tilakaratne Dilshan had more 50s than him (4 half-centuries) after turning 39. It’s a startling number because people around the world consider T20s to be the slam-bang format which is better suited to the youngsters’ style of play.
Talking about youngsters brings me to the point about the promising Haider Ali. The Under-19 star for Pakistan, came of age in the 3rd T20 of the series, when he stroked his way to a fearless 54 off just 33 balls, thus becoming the first Pakistan cricketer to score a half-century in an International T20 on debut.
Though Babar Azam is the top-ranked batsman in the ICC T20 listing, a worry is that his strike rate is the lowest among the Top 10 batsmen in this format. Going forward, that’s an area he needs to work upon, to get it from the 128 to at least the 135 range, especially since he opens the innings and has a chance to take maximum advantage of the field restrictions in the six overs of power play.
Babar’s captaincy and failure to drive home a win after having the upper hand in two contests is another area of concern. You expect a captain to look and be in control of proceedings on the field and not let the situation drift out of hand.
With England losing skipper Eoin Morgan to a runout and the free-stroking Tom Banton being dismissed by Harris Rauf in the 8th over, one expected Babar to bring back Shaheen Afridi to break the back of the England middle order.
Afridi had a fiery first spell of 2 overs and was looking unplayable. Yet he chose to hold the pacer’s overs back and allowed the partnership between Sam Billings and Moeen Ali to fester. The decision came back to haunt Pakistan, as England recovered from 69 to 126 for 4 before Billings was finally dismissed.
To top it up, Sarfaraz Ahmed on his comeback to the Pakistan T20 side, miffed what should have been an easy stumping of Moeen Ali, and the England all-rounder went on to score a match-winning 61 of just 33 balls. However, Pakistan got the grip once again on the match when the fiery pacer Wahab Riaz caught and bowled Moeen Ali, utterly beating him on pace.
Nevertheless, when Mohammad Rizwan, who had been named Pakistan’s Man of the Series in the Tests in England, had amply displayed his wicket-keeping prowess in the first two T20s as well, the decision to pick Sarfaraz ahead of him for the final match of the series was baffling and it almost proved costly.
What this team needs is a strong captain who can take ownership of the team selection and performance while giving his players the confidence to play their natural game freely.
The author is a sports broadcaster & cricket commentator who has worked on assignments for leading sports networks in India & abroad and was on the Hindi commentary panel for the ENG v PAK T20 series.