Pakistan opted to bat first in the Super 8 match against England which was taking place at Pallekele. It was a good surface for batting as per both the captains. Pakistan made a change to the team with Shaheen Afridi back in the side and England went unchanged. Jofra Archer bowled with good pace and accuracy to start off the innings. He regularly clocked speeds of more than 140 in the opening over and kept it tight as he gave away just five runs in the first over. Saim Ayub fell cheaply again and so did Salman Agha as Pakistan struggled. Babar Azam once again failed as he got out for 25 runs off 24 balls and struggled out in the middle. Let us see how twitter reacted to his innings.

 

 

 

 

Babar Azam came into bat and started well scoring 10 runs off his first six balls. He scored two consecutive boundaries against Archer and looked to be positive. But as soon as the powerplay finished, Babar Azam struggled to rotate strike and played too many dots again and failed to accelerate.

 

 

 

 

Jamie Overton returned to the attack and picked up the wicket of Babar Azam for 25. It has been a poor WT20 for Babar Azam so far and there has been plenty of pressure on him and once again on the big stage he failed to deliver. Many fans took it to twitter and made memes and jokes about his knock today against England.

 

 

 

 

The match is in balance at the moment and it will be interesting to see how the rest of the innings pans out. This is a crucial game for both these sides, especially for Pakistan as their opening match against New Zealand got abandoned and they had to share a point. A loss here for Pakistan would put them under terrific pressure. Meanwhile England won their previous fixture against Sri Lanka and have a very good NRR. They are currently top of the table with two points in the Super 8 stage. A win here for England would seal the place for the semi-finals.