England defeated Pakistan today to seal their semifinal spot in the T20 World Cup, thanks to a stunning century from captain Harry Brook who led from the front. Pakistan had themselves to blame as they lost the grasp of the game despite picking up four wickets for just 58 runs in less than eight overs at one stage. But Brook planned the 165-run tricky chase perfectly to take England over the line in the final over of the game. With this win, England’s unbeaten run against Pakistan continues as they beat them for the fourth time in the World Cup. Moreover, England have also won the last six T20Is against Pakistan.
Earlier, Sahibzada Farhan batted well after Pakistan won the toss and opted to bat first. He opened the innings and made sure to hang around till the 16th over before getting out on 63 off 45 balls. But his wicket triggered a mini collapse as Pakistan lost quick wickets. Farhan planned his innings superbly but it could’ve boded well for Pakistan had he batted till the end.
Among other batters, it was a failure for Saim Ayub and Salman Ali Agha, while Babar Azam continued to struggle in the middle order. He started well, scoring two fours in the powerplay but got stuck in the middle overs and eventually, got out for 25 runs off 24 deliveries. The move to play Fakhar Zaman at five left many perplexed but he batted decently, smashing 25 runs off 16 balls. If he had come out to bat earlier, the left-hander could’ve made a lot more impact.
Pakistan seemed to be nicely placed to cross the 170-run mark at one stage but lost wickets at the wrong time in the death overs and it took a cameo from Shadab Khan for them to even reach 164 runs. He scored 23 runs off 11 balls before getting run-out off the last delivery of the innings. For England, Liam Dawson was the best bowler, picking up three wickets for just 24 runs while Jofra Archer and Jamie Overton also scalped a couple each.
England stutter but Brook takes them over the line
The run-chase was only about Brook and a bit about Jacks. Batting at number three for the first time in his career, Brook took the Pakistan bowlers on in the powerplay and then planned the chase superbly, playing out Usman Tariq in the middle overs. England scored 53 runs for the loss of three wickets in the powerplay and 41 of those came from Brook and he batted the same way in the rest of the innings as well.ย
He didn’t get much support until Will Jacks came out to bat and the duo made sure to keep England in the hunt before landing killer blows in the final over of Tariq’s spell, taking him for 14 runs with a six and a four. Once Tariq was done with his spell and Brook took the attack to Shaheen Afridi to smash a brilliant century off just 50 balls.
On the very next ball, the England skipper got out, needing 10 runs off 18 deliveries but things got interesting with them losing two more wickets. However, England over the line in the end in the final over, much to the disappointment of Pakistan, to seal their spot in the semifinals.
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