England won the toss and chose to bat in the fourth and final one-day worldwide in Dubai today as Pakistan rejigged their line-up in a bid to save the series.
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Babar Azam (51) and Shoaib Malik (52) all failed to kick on and Pakistan were dismissed for 271 in the 41st over.
Jos Buttler scored a brilliant 46-ball hundred, the fastest by an Englishman in a one-day global, and described his performance in the series-clinching victory over Pakistan in Dubai as “the best I’ve ever played for England”.
England managed to seize an 84-run victory and completed a 3-1 series win.
Roy gained support from Hales, with whom he posed 54 in 11 overs for the first wicket, and then 140 for the second with Joe Root, who placed the ball with precision and rotated the strike expertly. You can also watch the Pakistan vs England 4th ODI online on the official website of Ten Sports and PTV Sports (Pakistan viewers).
“They’re enjoying their cricket; they’re enjoying each other’s company and each other’s success – and it’s showing out on the field”, said the Australian. By the time Roy finally went, he had reached 102 of 117 balls and England were 194-2.
Buttler shrugged off early nerves and soon took to the Pakistani bowling attack like the player of old, hitting eight sixes and eight boundaries, nearly effortlessly.
And the man responsible for their ninth defeat here since 2009 was obviously Buttler (116, 52 balls, 10 fours and eight sixes) whose two previous ODI tons blurred into the sheer magnificence of this one on Friday. In the next couple of overs, Buttler slammed three sixes and as many fours, completing a blazing fifty in the process in 30 deliveries. Azhar (44) struck Chris Woakes (0-46) for a six and a four before David Willey (2-34) got the breakthrough as Shehzad holed out to mid-wicket. But an on-song Buttler makes a mockery of slide rules and par scores, and England plundered 129 in the last 10 overs, Buttler making 104 of them: hitting the spinners back over their heads for six, slapping the quicks over cover, but mostly pounding the crowd at mid-wicket again and again.
Yes, it was the best thriller innings of the series which broke many records and successfully managed to put England on the driver’s seat.
In the recently concluded game, the hosts were thrashed by the visitors by 6 wickets and the host Pakistan was in a great position at one stage of a match with being 132-2 but later they were dismissed for only 208, which includes three chaotic run outs.
He was later named man of the series and man of the match.
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“Credit to Buttler, but we could have done a lot better in the last few overs”.
