Pakistan vs England 3rd ODI review: Taylor, Buttler drive England to a comprehensive victory

Pakistan vs England 3rd ODI review: Taylor, Buttler drive England to a comprehensive victory: In a clinical chase from the English lower middle order batsmen, the visitors beat Pakistan comprehensively by 6 wickets, and managed to gain an unassailable 2-1 lead in the series. The fragility of English lower middle order was one of the primary concerns for this upbeat English team; Jos Buttler and James Taylor have put up their credentials with an excellent match winning partnership. The Pakistanis faced their usual troubles with their batting, which effectively ruled out their chances in this match with some mediocre batting.

Opting to bat after winning the toss, the openers got to a steady start. Despite the fall of Babar Azam, captain Azhar Ali and Mohammad Hafeez stabilized the Pakistani innings. But in a slight mix-up, Ali, who was recovering from a dip in form, was run out thanks to some athletic fielding from James Taylor. The shuffling with the batting order continued, as Sarfaraz was sent ahead of Malik. Another partnership was formed, and yet another partnership failed to materialize into a big one. Hafeez fell for 45 after miscuing a pull, and the scorecard read 132 for the loss of 3 wickets.

But the same old middle order fragility was exposed again, as both Sarfaraz and Rizwan were dismissed in a poor cricketing fashion. Sarfaraz was picked out in the mid-wicket boundary, whereas Rizwan fell trying to steal a non-existent single. Pakistan slipped even further with the dismissals of Ifthikar Ahmed and Anwar Ali, and the home team was looking down and out with the scorecard reading 156 for the loss of 7 wickets.

It was only due to Riaz’ persistent knock did Pakistan manage to score 208. Malik was yet another victim to the run-out frenzy, and the tail wagged well to help Pakistan reach a modest total. Total hara-kiri from the Pakistani batsmen, coupled with some disciplined bowling from the Englishmen, was the reason why Pakistan were restricted to a below par total. Chris Woakes now has consecutive 4 wicket hauls.

The English innings looked like it would follow Pakistan’s footsteps. Jason Roy fell cheaply trying to pull Mohammad Irfan. While Irfan was breathing fire at one end, debutant Zafar Gohar took the important wicket of Joe Root, which came at the expense of batsman’s lack of concentration, and put Pakistan back into the game. But Eoin Morgan and Alex Hales steadied the ship for the visitors, as they handled the Pakistani spin attack cautiously.

Zafar was the man yet again as he picked up the important wicket of Hales. That led to another one, as Malik cleaned up the in-form Morgan with a gentle off-spinner. Suddenly, Pakistan had the upper hand, with the visitors reduced to 93/4. A missed stumping chance of Jos Buttler though didn’t look that significant later came back to bite the home team.

Buttler-Taylor duo played sensibly and got England back into the hunt. With the required run rate below four, it was just a matter of holding on. And they did that admirably well. The pair showed how to bat on a pitch which had a wee-bit for the bowlers, though did not have any sort of demons to make the life difficult for the batsmen. As the batsmen chipped away with the runs, Azhar Ali seemed out of ideas to break this partnership. With a flurry of boundaries in the 34^th over, the target was within 50 runs. Meanwhile Taylor notched up yet another half century, whereas Buttler was nearing his own. He eventually finished the innings off in style with a six, ending up one run short of a well-deserved half-century. The match-winning partnership was worth 117 runs, effectively taking away the game from the home team.

Summary

Pakistani middle order collapsed yet again, as they handed away a very good start. Things looked good for the home team till Sarfaraz missed Buttler’s stumping. But credits to the duo to notch up a splendid partnership, and help England achieve an unassailable lead in the series.

Brief Scores:

Pakistan – 208/10 ( Hafeez 45, Ali 36; Woakes 4-40)

England – 210/4 ( Taylor 67*, Buttler 49*; Zafar 2-54)

Man Of the Match – James Taylor (England)