LONDON – Confident England outperformed struggling Pakistan by seven wickets in the fourth T20I at The Oval, securing a 2-0 series victory.
The hosts easily chased the 158-run target, completing it in the 16th over after bowling out Babar Azam’s team for 157.
England began their chase with aggression, amassing 78 runs during the powerplay. Phil Salt and captain Jos Buttler continued to attack, putting the Pakistani bowlers under pressure.
The duo put together 82 runs before Haris Rauf gave Pakistan fans a glimmer of hope by dismissing Salt for 45. In his second over, he took Buttler’s wicket for 39, and Will Jacks (20) was bowled out in the next over.
England reached the target in 15.3 overs, losing only three wickets, thanks to Jonny Bairstow (28*) and Harry Brook (17*).
Haris Rauf was the only Pakistani bowler to take wickets, finishing with figures of 3/38.
Pakistan set a below-par 158-run target for England in the fourth and final T20I at The Oval on Thursday.
After being asked to bat first by England skipper Jos Buttler, Pakistan was all out at 157 runs in 19.5 overs despite a solid foundation provided by skipper Babar Azam (36) and Mohammad Rizwan (23) through a 59-run opening partnership inside the powerplay.
After the departure of set batters, Green Shirts kept on losing wickets at regular intervals and ended up at 157 on the penultimate ball of the allotted 20 overs. Usman Khan was the highest scorer with 38 runs. Iftikhar Ahmed made 21 and Naseem Shah 16 runs. No other batter could manage to enter the double figures. Shadab Khan, Azam Khan and Shaheen Shah Afridi went back to the hut without bothering the scorer.
Mark Wood, Adil Rasheed and Liam Livingstone bagged two wickets each and Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer and Chris Jordan took each while Haris Rauf was run out.
England lead the series 1-0 after winning the second match. The first and third T20Is were washed out without a ball being bowled. England made one change, bringing in Mark Wood instead of Reece Topley. Usman Khan and Naseem Shah have made it into the playing XI for Pakistan, replacing out-of-form Saim Ayoub and Imad Wasim.
Pakistan Playing XI: 1 Mohammad Rizwan, 2 Babar Azam (capt), 3 Usman Khan, 4 Fakhar Zaman, 5 Shadab Khan, 6 Azam Khan (wk), 7 Iftikhar Ahmed, 8 Shaheen Afridi, 9 Haris Rauf, 10 Mohammad Amir, 11 Naseem Shah
England Playing XI: 1 Phil Salt, 2 Jos Buttler (capt/wk), 3 Will Jacks, 4 Jonny Bairstow, 5 Harry Brook, 6 Moeen Ali, 7 Liam Livingstone, 8 Chris Jordan, 9 Jofra Archer, 10 Adil Rashid, 11 Mark Wood
