In reply, Pakistan slumped from 51-0 to 120-6 in the 17th over, only for Afridi to give Pakistan hope by hitting three sixes in the 18th over before falling to Chris Woakes having made 24 from just eight balls. And though the powers may be waning, he remains a risky player.
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Jason Roy (29) hit a couple of sixes within the first four overs to get England off to a flying start. However the Pakistan side surrendered after nail-biter in front of a huge crowd who were gunning for Pakistan’s victory. England have set a target of 173 runs for Pakistan to level terms here.
Afridi finishes off his four overs leaking just 15 runs and scalping three wickets. Afridi’s knock included three sixes of one Chris Woakes over but he fell on the last ball of the same over.
Woakes had finished well with the bat, and did likewise with the ball. If this continues long, Pakistan are surely to win this in no time.
England clinched a Twenty20 series win over Pakistan with a thrilling three-run victory in the second match in Dubai on Friday despite a fine all-round performance from Shahid Afridi.
LIVE CRICKET SCORE: PAK 51/1 in 5 Overs.
Winning the toss and opting to bat, the England top order all made solid contributions and kept the scoreboard ticking over.
His wicket was Afridi’s 86th in as many matches, beating countryman Saeed Ajmal (85 wickets in 64 matches) as the highest wicket-taker in all Twenty20 cricket.
With England’s innings somewhat faltering at 78-3 after 11 overs, Vince smashed two sixes and two fours in four consecutive balls faced, the first fortunate to be parried over the boundary by Sohail Tanvir when attempting the catch at long on, but Afridi once again halted England’s charge, with Vince top-edging a sweep off the leg-spinner to deep backward square leg.
Roy and Hales open for England as Anwar starts the proceedings for Pakistan.
“James Vince coming in on his debut to play the way he did on a wicket that the three before struggled to adjust to was outstanding”, said Morgan.
Afridi picks wicket off his first ball.
Pakistan brought back Shehzad and Malik in place of Mohammad Rizwan and Imran Khan Junior.
He dominated his fourth-wicket partnership with former West of England schools teammate Jos Buttler, which yielded 35 from 19 balls.
A brilliant 22-ball cameo from Buttler ended when he edged a delivery from Tanvir to the keeper.
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Morgan sees no reason to modify the bold approach which has served England well for the past six months – since they first committed to all-out limited-overs attack on home soil against New Zealand and Australia.
