It was Banton’s bat raining runs before the Rain halted the Play yet again on this Tour. The change of venue didn’t change the course of weather. Pakistan elected to field after winning the toss at Emirates Old Trafford stadium in Manchester. Tom Banton took the charge capitalizing on his dropped chance and spoiled the fun for Pakistani bowlers.
It was quiet Start by England losing Bairstow early in the game but followed with Banton’s tremendous display of Batting scoring 71 runs. Pakistani bowlers were hopeless in front Of Banton unorthodox six-hitting shots but fought back with back at the end of the innings. England saw a mighty collapse in the form of losing four wickets for just 14 runs in 19 deliveries.
England scored 131 for 6 in 16.1 overs Pakistan would have needed 56 in five overs. The ground staff put in great effort to at least have a 5 over chase for Pakistan but after long inspection umpires concluded ground conditions unfit for the resumption of play
Wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan had a brilliant time behind the stumps taking a difficult rebound catch of Moeen Ali and later stumped Lewis Gregory. His voice behind the stumps is talk of the town at social media. Pakistani Spinners will be proud of the way they brought the team back into the game. Banton’s confidence will be sky high and he would feel missing a golden chance of winning a man of the match award for his maiden T20 half-century.
It was overall a good contest between bat & ball. Both the team will look to hit back hard omitting all the mistakes they made in the match. Pakistan will certainly look to make changes to their squad, especially in the bowling department. It was a surprise call to bench Haider Ali maybe he’ll have to wait for another match. The next encounter will be played at the same venue on Sunday.