Shah, Pakistan’s leg-spinner who took 15 wickets in the preceding 2-0 Tests series win, has taken just one wicket in two games and was ruled out of the third with a knee injury.
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Chris Woakes, the England seamer, took four wickets, but Pakistan’s downfall was of their own making as they crumbled to 208 all out.
The height difference between England’s diminutive middle-order batsman and Pakistan’s giant left-armer is great, but from 22 yards 5ft 5in versus 7ft 1in has turned into a pretty even match in both one-day internationals to date.
The four-match ODI series is now level at one-all after Pakistan won the first match and England the second. This was his fourth run-out in the last eight ODIs.
It is unclear as yet whether he will need surgery this winter, or merely an extended rest, to ready him for another big year ahead.
Taylor caused the confusion with a smart piece of fielding at backward point and from then on Pakistan’s batsmen lost their way – at one point losing six for 29.
With Hafeez’s early fluency checked he then clubbed David Willey, who had just been brought back into the attack, to Joe Root in the deep before Sarfraz Ahmed followed in similar style to Moeen in the next over. Sarfraz Ahmed, Mohammad Rizwan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Anwar Ali and Shoaib Malik fell in quick succession.
In the first game, they stuggled and lost 3 wickets for just 41 runs.
Taylor, who at 5 foot, 2 inches (1.6 metres) is the shortest player around, said facing Pakistan paceman Mohammad Irfan – the tallest-ever to play cricket at 7 feet, 1 inch (2.2 m) – was amusing. James Taylor and Jos Buttler came out to bat within an over of each other and faced a real challenged. Yes, we didn’t play aggressive cricket in the last match, we didn’t put enough pressure on the English bowlers, however, we will like to play more positive cricket tomorrow. “Hopefully we can produce another performance and win the series”. They weren’t able to perform as per the expectations. If Hales’ hundred rightly took the plaudits on Friday, then Root’s fuss-free strike rotation was every bit as vital to England’s finished article – no fewer than 46 of his 77 deliveries were nurdled away for singles, a skill that his compatriots have so often lacked against spin bowling on slow, low Asian pitches. “We tried to sweep as much as possible and not let them settle”.
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Babar Azam’s patience finally ran out in the 11th over when he dragged a short-pitched delivery from Woakes from outside the off stump into the hands of Adil Rashid at fine leg.
