Twitter Reactions: Clinical England see off sloppy Pakistan in warm-up fixture

England finished a very comfortable chase, and finished the game off with 26 balls to spare.

By Vaishnavi Thiagarajan Iyer

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Pakistan vs England
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Pakistan vs England. (Photo Source: Albert Perez - ICC/ICC via Getty Images)

Pakistan decided to rest their key players as they squared off against England in the official warm-up match of the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 at The Gabba in Brisbane. Skipper Babar Azam and his opening partner Mohammad Rizwan had taken a rest for the contest, and Shadab Khan led the Men in Green in their absence.

Winning the toss, England elected to field first. Shan Masood and Haider Ali opened the innings for Pakistan. The two started off well and kept the run rate above 10 as England bowlers looked for the breakthrough. After some good hitting by the opening duo, Ben Stokes put a halt on the prowess by dismissing Haider Ali. Masood followed shortly after the powerplay when Liam Livingstone picked up his first.

Eventually, Masood, who scored 39 runs off 22 deliveries, ended up as the top scorer for his side, as no other batter could cross even 30 runs. After the first wicket, England’s bowlers kept picking wickets at regular intervals, which broke Pakistan’s momentum in the game. Shadab Khan and Iftikhar Ahmed chipped in a few runs but their contributions were just not enough.

The batters even made some blunders on the field and confusion between them led to a couple of runouts. Mohammad Wasim’s cameo of a 16-ball 26 runs towards the end helped Pakistan reach 160/8 at the end of 19 overs. The game was reduced to 19-overs-a-side due to an interruption of rain in the first innings.

England batters capitalize on Pakistan's mistakes

During the chase, England did not have a dream start, as their opening batter Philip Salt was dismissed in just the second over for just a run. England suffered a major blow to start their innings with, but Ben Stokes played a brilliant knock to cover up for the same. While opener Alex Hales found it difficult to get going, Stokes amassed 36 runs off just 18 deliveries, hitting two fours and three sixes, before being dismissed in the sixth over.

Hales’ struggle came to an end when Shadab Khan dismissed him on the very first ball post the powerplay. It was then all-rounder Liam Livingstone who landed England in a comfortable position after the three wickets. It was raining sixes at The Gabba as Livingstone and Harry Brook both smashed some big shots to cover the chase early.

Livingstone was dismissed scoring a 16-ball 28, which included a four and a couple of sixes, but Brook (45 off 24) kept the runs coming. He was joined by all-rounder Sam Curran (33 off 14), and the two wreaked havoc as the Pakistani bowlers kept looking for wickets, but the duo ruined all their plans. They shared an unbeaten 60-run stand for the fifth wicket and finished off the chase in style which helped England bag a six-wicket win in the contest.

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T20 World Cup Warm-up Matches 2022PakistanEnglandHarry BrookSam CurranBen StokesKane Williamson