Pakistan vs England, 1st T20I stat attack: Alex Hales ends long wait, Mohammad Rizwan joins elite list and more

Alex Hales and Harry Brook clinched England’s six-wicket win in the opening match of the seven-match T20I series against Pakistan, in Karachi’s National Stadium, on Tuesday.

Having won the toss and opted to bowl first, England restricted Pakistan to 158/7 from 20 overs. Pakistan might have felt they could have added 15-20 more runs, but wickets at regular intervals hurt their momentum after a strong start. Skipper Babar Azam (31) and his opening partner Mohammad Rizwan (68) provided a fiery start to the hosts’ innings, forging an 85-run stand for the first wicket, before Adil Rashid cleaned up Babar Azam in the 10^th over.

Debutant Luke Wood impressed with figures of 3/24 from four overs, and he played a major part in restricting Pakistan to 158. Barring Rizwan, none of the Pakistan batters could convert starts into big knocks, and the closest scorer after Azam was Iftikhar Ahmed (28 off 17 balls).

Pakistan gained early momentum in England’s run-chase, removing Phil Salt (10) in the third over, and even managed to get rid of Dawid Malan (20) in the seventh over, but Alex Hales (53) and Harry Brook (42*) forged a 55-run stand for the fourth wicket, that changed the course of the game.

Hales was dismissed in the 17^th over, but stand-in skipper Moeen Ali and Brook ensured England crossed the finish line with four deliveries to spare.

With the series now in early 1-0 favour of England, let’s take a look at some interesting statistics from the game:

• This was England’s first tour to Pakistan in 17 years, last having toured the country in 2005. This was also England’s first T20I victory on Pakistan soil.
• Mohammad Rizwan became the joint-fastest man to get to 2000 T20I runs, equalling his national skipper Babar Azam. Both Rizwan and Babar took 52 innings to get to the milestone.
• Tuesday marked 1291 days since Alex Hales last batted in an England shirt. Before Tuesday, Hales’ last international match for England had come on 10 March, 2019, in a T20I against West Indies in the Caribbean.
• This was also Hales’ first T20I fifty in 1538 days, his last in the same international format coming against India on 6 July, 2018.
• The first T20I marked England’s first international match on Pakistan soil after 6118 days, having last toured the country in December 2005 comprising of Tests and ODIs.
• Pakistan made a strong start after being put into bat, scoring 87 runs for the loss of just one wicket in the first ten overs, but lost six wickets in the next ten, while managing only 71 runs during that phase.

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