Pakistan openers Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan had a ball on Thursday night as the duo tore into the England bowing attack to help their side chase down a 200-run target in the second T20I with 10 wickets in hand and three balls to spare. The match at National Stadium, Karachi also saw the duo stitching a record 203-run partnership - highest in a T20I chase. After the performance of the two players, Pakistan pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi took a sarcastic dig at the critics of the openers.
"I think it is time to get rid of Kaptaan @babarazam258 and @iMRizwanPak. Itne selfish players. Agar sahi se khelte to match 15 overs me finish hojana chahye tha. Ye akhri over tak le gaye. Let's make this a movement. Nahi." tweeted Afridi.
"Absolutely proud of this amazing Pakistani team," he added.
While critics have always been behind Babar and Rizwan for the strike rate of the duo, former Pakistan pacer Aaqib Javed had even claimed days before that in big chases, having Babar and Mohammad could be detrimental for Pakistan as they are similar players and they tend to let the required run-rate go too high.
Talking about the match on Thursday, Moeen Ali's 55 not out and Ben Duckett's 43 helped England post 199/5 in 20 overs. In reply, Pakistan reached home with 3 balls to spare.
Meanwhile, the victory breaks a run of three consecutive losses for Pakistan which had stretched from the Asia Cup.
Pakistan and England will square off in the third T20I of the seven-match series on Friday.