Pakistan suffer defeat in first Twenty20

England beat Pakistan in the first Twenty20 International in Dubai on Thursday evening. The men in red took a 1-0 lead in the three match series.

England posted a challenging total of 160 for the loss of 5 wickets in 20 overs, courtesy of an outstanding maiden half-century by Sam Billings. He scored 53 runs which comprised of some beautiful stroke playing and unorthodox shots of the highest quality. England’s top order collapsed but Eoin Morgan along with Sam Billings provided the perfect partnership. Morgan punched in 45 runs to the target.

Pakistan’s batting collapsed yet again as Pakistan openers didn’t prove to provide a positive start to their innings. It was a night to forget for the debutant Rafatullah Mohamand who only scored 16 runs. Muhammad Hafeez also perished for 7 runs, whilst Muhammad Rizwan added only six runs. Top scorer for Pakistan was Sohail Tanveer who stood at the crease for an unbeaten 25. Umar Akmal and Sohaib Maqsood added a total of 43 runs before Umar got out in the most bizzare fashion. Wahab Riaz and Anwar Ali added 41 runs, but in the end the target wasn’t achieved by the Green Shirts. Pakistan fell short of 14 runs from the target.

Left arm England bowling duo Liam Plunkett and Reece Topley both bagged three wickets each to topple the Pakistan side.