Toss : England won the toss and decided to bat

Teams: 

Pakistan 1 Ahmed Shehzad, 2 Rafatullah Mohmand, 3 Mohammad Hafeez, 4 Shoaib Malik, 5 Mohammad Rizwan, 6 Umar Akmal, 7 Shahid Afridi (capt), 8 Aamer Yamin, 9 Anwar Ali, 10 Sohail Tanvir, 11 Mohammad Irfan

England 1 Jason Roy, 2 James Vince, 3 Moeen Ali, 4 Joe Root, 5 Eoin Morgan (capt), 6 Jos Buttler (wk), 7 Sam Billings 8 Adil Rashid, 9 David Willey, 10 Chris Woakes, 11 Chris Jordan

England innings: England had made no secret of their desire to inflict a 3-0 whitewash on their hosts but no one in their wildest dreams would have predicted the start to the England innings that a packed crowd in Sharjah saw. Aamer Yamin was given the ball to open bowling for Pakistan and he struck with the very first ball to take his maiden wicket, Roy LBW to a beautiful delivery. What followed then was a period of recovery for England but then Afridi brought himself on in the 6th over and removed Root and Moeen Ali on successive deliveries providing some relief to his side. More respite for Pakistan followed when Shoaib Malik clean bowled England captain, Morgan, just as he was starting to look comfortable. Mohammad Rizwan then executed a smart bit of wicket-keeping to have Buttler run out, with Umar Akmal then taking a lovely catch to end threat from Billings. Woakes and Vince then combined in a brisk 60 run partnership to take England to close to 150, with England finishing on 154/8. A much better effort in the field by Pakistan bowlers and fielders but the death overs again proving costly and the inability to bowl out Shoaib Malik also very puzzling.

Fall of Wickets:

1-0 (Roy, 0.1 ov)
2-48 (Root, 5.5 ov)
3-48 (Ali, 5.6 ov)
4-68 (Morgan, 9.1 ov)
5-75 (Buttler, 10.3 ov)
6-86 (Billings, 12.3 ov)
7-146 (Woakes, 19.1 ov)
8-152 (Vince, 19.5 ov)

Pakistan innings: The situation demanded a calm start to the innings but that is not what Pakistan got. Starting with a needless walk down the park for Shehzad to get clean bowled to an even more comical run-out by Hafeez, followed by a golden duck for Mohmand, things went wrong for Pakistan. A period of some consolidation and acceleration followed but Rizwan again showed his weakness in face of quality spin as he was caught and bowled by Adil. Umar Akmal walked in and walked off soon, another failed innings filled with promise but no results and Pakistan continued to plunge deeper and deeper into trouble. Shahid Afridi looked angry as he watched Hafeez run himself out and maybe it was that pent up rage that he brought in to the field. With Malik on the other side firing away to get his fifty, Afridi played his natural game playing some monster shots to take Pakistan to their only win of the series before falling to Willey for 29 off 20. It was left to Malik to take Pakistan close to victory which he did but lost his wicket in the last over for a superb 75. Tanvir and Anwar Ali ended the 20 overs for Pakistan at level with 154. 

Fall of Wickets:

1-5 (Ahmed Shehzad, 0.5 ov)
2-9 (Mohammad Hafeez, 0.6 ov)
3-11 (Rafatullah Mohmand, 2.2 ov)
4-50 (Mohammad Rizwan, 8.1 ov)
5-65 (Umar Akmal, 11.1 ov)
6-128 (Shahid Afridi, 17.3 ov)
7-153 (Shoaib Malik, 19.5 ov)

Super over : Pakistan sent in Shahid Afridi and Umar Akmal, and Jordan bowled from England. Pakistan only managed 3 runs in that over. England in their turn against Shahid Afridi achieved the target on the 5th ball.

Summary: Shoaib Malik's highest T20I score and Shahid Afridi's single-minded determination to see Pakistan achieve something before the World Cup was the main reason for Pakistan's improved performance today. The 3-0 loss will hurt but will only have any real meaning if Pakistan can learn from their mistakes.