England knock Pakistan in fourth T20I to seal series ahead of T20 World Cup

LONDON: England outplayed Pakistan by seven wickets in the fourth T20I at The Oval to clinch the four-match series by 2-0.

The first and third T20I of the series were washed out due to rain while England won the second T20I by 23 runs in Birmingham.

The hosts comfortably chased the 158 runs in the 16th over for the loss of just three wickets.

England started the chase aggressively, scoring 78 runs in powerplay. Openers Phil Salt and captain Jos Buttler gave England a flying start and put Pakistan bowlers under pressure.

Pacer Haris Rauf showed grit and provided a much-needed breakthrough to green shirts in the seventh when he got Salt caught at deep midwicket. In his second over, he removed Buttler (39) while Will Jacks (20) was cleaned bowled in the following over.

Hosts finished the set target in 15.3 overs for the loss of three wickets courtesy of Jonny Bairstow (28*) and Harry Brook (17*). Haris Rauf remained Pakistan’s only successful bowler who took wickets with a bowled figure of 3/38.

Earlier, Jos Butter after winning the toss invited Pakistan to bat first. The visitors started the innings brilliantly with the opening duo of Babar and Mohammad Rizwan giving a flying start.

The decorated opening pair provided a solid start to Pakistan, adding 59 runs for the first wicket before Babar fell victim to Jofra Archer on the final delivery of the batting powerplay. Babar smashed five fours and a six on his way to a 22-ball 36.

Rizwan was quick to follow as he was cleaned up by Adil Rashid in the next over. He scored 23 off 16 deliveries with the help of three boundaries.

Pakistan continued to lose wickets at regular intervals but Usman Khan, who came into the playing XI over Saim Ayub, scored crucial 38 runs on 21 balls with the help of three fours and two sixes.

Fakhar Zaman (9), Azam Khan (0) and Shadab Khan (0) failed with the bat. Iftikhar Ahmed had the chance to cruise the Green Shirts to a great total but the right-handed batter concluded his innings after contributing 21 runs on 18 balls. Naseem Shah scored 16 runs down the order as Pakistan’s innings ended at 157 in 19.5 overs.

For England, Mark Wood, Adil Rashid, and Liam Livingstone picked two wickets each while Jofra Archer, Chris Jordan, and Moeen Ali bagged one each.

This was the last series for both sides before the T20 World Cup 2024, which will begin in the United States and West Indies on June 1.

Pakistan will travel to Dallas, USA tomorrow while England will fly to Barbados, West Indies for their respective World Cup campaigns.