Table of Contents
Haris Rauf‘s impressive death bowling helped Pakistan beat England in the fourth T20I to level the ongoing seven-match series at National Stadium in Karachi on Sunday.
While defending their total of 166/4, Pakistan were quite comfortable when England needed 33 more runs from just three overs, with only three wickets in hand. But then the game turned on its head as Mohammad Hasnain ended up conceding 24 runs in the 18th over, and the momentum shifted in favour of the tourists.
However, another twist in the tale was waiting to take place with Rauf picking up a couple of wickets in two balls, including Liam Dawson‘s, who was looking set to take England home, to put his side pretty much close to a famous victory. Reece Topley’s run-out in the final over then sealed the deal for Pakistan as England were bowled out for 163 with four balls to spare.
Earlier, the hosts put up 166/4 on the board in 20 overs, thanks to Mohammad Rizwan’s yet another sensational knock. The star wicketkeeper-batter smashed 88 from 67 deliveries, with the help of nine fours and a six.
Here is how Twitter reacted:
Top throw from Shan Masood in clutch finish 🎯
Incredible scenes in Karachi! 👏👏#PAKvENG | #UKSePK pic.twitter.com/1MeKn5sijn
— Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) September 25, 2022
Pakistan are the first team in Men’s T20I history to successfully defend less than 5 runs off the last over. #PakvEng
— Mazher Arshad (@MazherArshad) September 26, 2022
What an incredible win boys!
Super proud of you ❤️
Well done to our entire bowling unit especially @HarisRauf14 excellent stuff 👏🏻👏🏻 #PAKvENG— Imam Ul Haq (@ImamUlHaq12) September 25, 2022
All even.
Karachi was incredible. Over to you, Lahore. 🇵🇰 pic.twitter.com/61wibr3Pmu
— Babar Azam (@babarazam258) September 25, 2022
The delivery by Haris Rauf to Reece Topley which was a review for LBW was bowled at 155kph (96.31mph) #PAKvENG #Cricket pic.twitter.com/vrPI3Bg2bK
— Saj Sadiq (@SajSadiqCricket) September 25, 2022
Incredible game of cricket….Great Sunday afternoon viewing!
Well done Pakistan!!#PAKvENG— Mickey Arthur (@Mickeyarthurcr1) September 25, 2022
According to our Batting Impact measure both Rizwan’s 88 off 67 & Babar’s 36 off 28 earned positive impacts of +7 & +2. Incredibly, Asif’s 13* off 3 was the top impact performance (+8). The issue was Shan’s 21 off 19 (-8) & Khushdil’s 2 off 3 (-3). #PAKvENG
— Freddie Wilde (@fwildecricket) September 26, 2022
UNBELIEVABLE! Wow. Seriously wow! What a game. Unbelievable. They were behind. They were ahead. They were out of the game. They got back in the game. Then England took control. And Pakistan went from dead and buried…to winning a nail biter. An incredible climax. #PAKvENG
— Aatif Nawaz (@AatifNawaz) September 25, 2022
Seven-match white-ball series are great. You actually do get a chance for narratives to develop and for teams to come back, and as it gets into it the results really feel like they matter. Much, much better entertainment than two back-to-back three-match series imo#PAKvENG
— Ben Gardner (@Ben_Wisden) September 25, 2022
Pakistan cricket is a team of heart attacks. I swear 😂😂😭😭👊#PakvEng
— Ihtisham Ul Haq (@iihtishamm) September 25, 2022