England clinch T20 series against Pakistan

Manchester: Adil Rashid took a career-best haul before England just did enough in a nervous chase to seal a thrilling and series-clinching three-wicket win over Pakistan in a T20 decider at Old Trafford on Tuesday.

Victory gave England the three-match contest 2-1 in their last white-ball fixture of the 2021 home season.

Leg-spinner Rashid took 4-35 as Pakistan were restricted to 154-6 after winning the toss, with Mohammad Rizwan batting through the innings for 76 not out.

England opener Jason Roy, the player of the match, got the chase off to a brisk start with a dashing 64.

But the hosts kept losing wickets before returning captain Eoin Morgan made a useful 21.

Liam Livingstone, the player of the series after scoring England’s fastest T20 hundred in the opener at Trent Bridge, struck one six and then holed out before Chris Jordan hit the winning runs with two balls to spare.

“This win means a huge amount,”



Morgan told Sky Sports. “This was the worst possible pitch for the way we play, and we have won on a wicket which is slow and spins so I am very proud.”

Pitches in the United Arab Emirates, the venue for October’s T20 World Cup, are renowned for taking turn but Morgan said: “I genuinely don’t think the ball will spin like that in UAE having played a full season in the IPL there last year, but we are ready for any surfaces that do spin.”

Pakistan captain Babar Azam, whose side also lost the preceding ODI series against England, was left lamenting a lack of runs.

“We were 10 to 15 runs short today,” he said. “The partnership between myself and Rizwan, if it had developed a bit better, maybe we would have the extra 10 or 15 runs.

“We need to do better against spinners, we haven’t struggled as much but haven’t batted as well as we could. Some days we have good days and some days we have bad days.