Headingley: England defeated Pakistan in the second T20I by 45 runs. The victory belonged to the English batsmen, especially, Jos Buttler, Moeen Ali and Liam Livingstone. England scored 200 in the first innings. While chasing the total of 201, Pakistan scored 155 runs at the loss of 9 wickets in the 20 overs.
The series is now level at 1-1 with one T20I still to be played. The final T20I will be played at Manchester on 20 July.
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Earlier in the day, Pakistan won the toss and choose to bowl first on a good batting wicket. Former pacer, Shoaib Akhtar criticised this decision of bowling first on a batting-friendly wicket. Pakistan did get a good start as they picked two early wickets. Even after losing two quick wickets, the English batsmen, especially Jos Butter and Moeen Ali did not let the run rate come down. Later Livingstone also played some shots to ensure England reached a total of 200 runs.
When Pakistan came on to bat, they had a decent start but the trio of Adil Rashid, Moeen Ali and Saqib Mahmood did the trick and did not let Pakistan batsmen settle. They kept chipping away with wickets. The first breakthrough was provided by Saqib Mahmood, the new find from England. Later, the spin bowlers managed to pick all the important wickets. Rashid and Ali picked 4 wickets between them.
Shadab Khan played some shots towards the end but it was too little too late from Pakistan's point of view.
All eyes will be on the next match that is to be played on 20 July 2021.