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Pakistan v England, 2nd T20i: Five Things We Learned

England claimed the series with victory in the 2nd T20 against Pakistan. What did we learn from the latest win?

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MAN OF THE DAY – Shahid Afridi

Oh Shahid. The neutrals, Pakistan fans and, hell, even some of the English wanted you to see things home as you strode to the crease with 52 needed from 20 balls and then hit your first ball to midwicket for four. The fact that you couldn’t quite see things home merely added to your legacy. He faced only eight balls but, through some savage wielding of his axe, managed 24. The crowd went berserk and Chris Woakes may need the ECB’s official tucker-in to check under his bed for the next few nights just to make sure that Boom Boom isn’t lurking…

AND THEN THERE’S HIS BOWLING…

Box office figures of three for 15 from his four overs, and all of them were big ‘uns: Alex Hales (11) trapped LBW first ball, Jason Roy (29) nicking behind and then James Vince (38) top-edging a sweep. He also took a sharp catch at midwicket off Joe Root, after the returning batsman had clonked Shoaib Malik over that same region for six the ball before. The three wickets took him to the top of the wicket-takers in T20i cricket, with 86. Even so, he looked like he wanted to pull out his perfect hair as his teammates misfielded, from dropped catches to somehow allowing twos to be taken without the ball leaving the 30-yard circle. It’s time for Pakistan to do as he does.

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BUTTLER’S CAPTAINCY

Let’s be honest – limited overs vice-captaincy has always been viewed as a perfunctory role. Much like being the milk monitor, it’s not exactly something you’ll use to kick off your CV. But on the odd occasion it might lead to something worthwhile like here, when Buttler took over as skipper with Eoin Morgan rested. While some have said he has the capacity to captain, this was the first time most got a chance to fully appreciate it. He took pace off the ball at the right moments, with Stephen Parry and Adil Rashid removing both openers, who had got Pakistan off to a great start of 51 in five overs. And then Buttler introduced pace to cut short Shoaib Malik’s (26) and Umar Akmal’s (3) time at the crease.

RASHID 4-0-18-2

Quite brilliant from the leg-spinner, whose Jekyll and Hyde tour continues with this display. Called upon by Buttler to make a breakthrough, then to carry on and tie up an end, Rashid excelled. Impressively, he was only hit for two fours and, even more startling, were his two-overs worth of dot balls. He got Rafatullah Mohmand to run past one for his first wicket before the big-hitting Sohaib Maqsood was undone by a beautiful googly that was given flight outside off stump, before it pitched and turned in to clip off-stump.

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WOAKES KEEPS HIS COOL AGAIN (JUST!)

In the last 18 months, Chris Woakes has successfully closed out T20 matches against Mahendra Singh Dhoni and India, Lancashire and Andrew Flintoff in the 2014 NatWest T20 Blast and, now, against Pakistan in Dubai. High-pressure situations that required Woakes to dig deep and saw him emerge victorious. However, it is important to point out that this was a high-pressure situation of his own making: while his first two overs went for 11, his third – against Afridi in the 18th over – reaped 22, including a wide full toss (no balled) which was slashed over point for six. With 11 required from the last, he removed Safraz Ahmed and managed to get England over the line by three