Malan leads England to dominant win over Pakistan to secure T20 series

After seven games, 12 days, and countless twists and turns, this helter-skelter T20 tour of Pakistan ended in a 4-3 victory for England. The deciding match, which had been one of the most eagerly anticipated games held here in the last decade did not leave a lot for the local fans to cheer about. Their team lost by 67 runs.

The game was as good as done inside the first few overs of Pakistan’s innings. They had put England in, because they think of themselves as a chasing team. But they lost both openers in the first eight deliveries. Chris Woakes had Babar Azam caught at cover, and two balls later, Reece Topley bowled Mohammad Rizwan.

England’s 209 already felt like a mountain, and this was as if their expedition leaders had stepped out of the tents and fallen straight into the nearest crevasse. Azam and Rizwan together had scored 601 runs at the start of this game, over 200 more than the other 13 Pakistani batsmen had between them. That total looked a very long way away now.

It receded further into the distance when David Willey had Iftikhar Ahmed caught by Phil Salt off the top edge in the sixth over. Willey was especially pleased, since he had already dropped him once off his own bowling. Pakistan were 37 for three at the end of the powerplay, and the match drifted to a conclusion, Shan Masood plodded on to 56 off 43 balls, in an odd and solitary vigil for a long-dead innings.

It was a shame the game ended so tamely. For a time it reached a pitch of intensity not many T20 matches do. It caught light in the 15th over of England’s innings, when Dawid Malan and Harry Brook were together and set. Malan had 42 off 26, Brook 23 off 14, and Azam brought Mohammad Hasnain into the attack. Brook tried to scoop his second ball,