England leg-spinner Adil Rashid recorded his career-best figures in T20 internationals on Tuesday and guided his side a thrilling win over Pakistan in the series decider at the Old Trafford, Manchester.
Victory also gav🃏e England t♑he three-match contest 2-1 in their last limited-overs game of the 2021 home season.
Rashid picke🐭d up four wickets for 35 runs and helped the hosts in restriཧcting Pakistan on 154-6 after the visitors won the toss and opted to bat first.
Chasing the competitive total, England opener Jason Roy (64 off 36) gave his side a flying start but, in the middle overs, the Men in Green chipped away with wickets. No. 8 Chris Jordan had to sprint thr🍸o♋ugh for the winning runs with just two balls and three wickets remaining.
“This win means a huge amount,” Eoin Morgan, the winning captain told Sky Sports.
“This was the worst possible pitch for the way we play, and we have won on a wicket which is slow and spins so I am very proud.”
Pitches in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the venue for this year’s T20 World Cup, are spinner friendly but Morgan said: “I genuinely don’t think the ball will spin like that in UAE having played a full season in the IPL (Indian Premier League) there last year, but we are ready for any surfaces that do spin.”
Here’s how Twitter reacted:
Top game this well played by both teams and .🗹 In the end better team won . Well fought tꦬeam Pakistan.
— Salman Butt (@im_SalmanButt)
What an entertaining game of cricket that was !
Congratulations for winning the series.— Azhar Mahmood (@AzharMahmood11)
Congratulations 🇵🇰🏴
— Ihtisham Ul Haq (@iihtishamm)
You are not going to win too many T20Is if 5 of your top 6 batsmen only score a combined 51 runs ﷽off 52 balls
— Saj Sadiq (@SajSadiqCricket)
What a game. What a series. Full houses, sun, tight finishes, & cool t๊actical skirmishes for the nerds. Do𒁃esn’t get much better.
— Freddie Wilde (@fwildecricket)
Adil Rashid is the first England men's spinner to take 4-fer in a T20I at home.
— hypocaust (@_hypocaust)
Fantastic knock from Jason Roy, it has been a long time, 64 runs from just 34 balls including 12 fours and 1 six – he was batting on a different pitch.
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns)
Career-best T20I figures for Adil Rashid 👏
4️⃣-0️⃣-3️⃣5️⃣-4️⃣
— The Cricketer (@TheCricketerMag)
Adil Rashidꦫ is a spinner who easily deceives and fumbles the greats of the modern day cricket ie Virat Kohli and Babar Azam!👏
— Arfa Feroz Zake (@ArfaSays_)
A fittingly thrilling climax to what's been a brilliantly entertaining series. England were the better team…but only just. Congratulations England.
Commiserations Pakistan.
Fantastic cricket.
I love this game 🏏— Aatif Nawaz (@AatifNawaz)
🏆YES BOYS GET IN 🏆
✅ T20s vs SL
✅ ODIs vs SL✅ ODIs vs PAK
✅ T20s vs PAKWhite-ball summer clean sweep complete! 😍
— England's Barmy Army 🏴🎺 (@TheBarmyArmy)
