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England v Pakistan

The Eoin Morgan feat that overshadowed Babar Azam

Babar, Morgan
by Wisden Staff 3-minute read
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It was a good day for the batsmen in Manchester – Babar Azam, Mohammad Hafeez, Eoin Morgan and David Malan all scored half-centuries in a high-scoring thriller.

Eventually, England came away with a hugely impressive win in a match that zigged and zagged. That means the Pakistan captain Azam’s typically silky 44-ball 56 was overshadowed by the more robust, clean-hitting of his England counterpart Morgan, whose 33-ball 66 changed the course of the game.

The bowlers, unfortunately, didn’t really get much joy, all apart from Shadab Khan, that is. The Pakistan leg-spinner was on a hat-trick during his 3-34 and could have even taken three wickets in an over had it not been for an umpire’s call verdict on DRS – Morgan was the batsman who survived, when he was on 1, and you know the rest.

All of it meant there were quite a few noteworthy numbers to emerge from the encounter. Here are the best ones:

14 The number of half-centuries Babar Azam has scored since making his T20I debut in September 2016. In that time, no other batsman has scored more. Babar reached the mark in 40 matches, averaging 50.90. Rohit Sharma, the India opener, has 13 in one more match, at an average of 33.54.

39 – The number of innings Babar Azam has taken to reach 1,500 runs in T20Is. He is the joint-fastest to the mark, alongside India captain Virat Kohli and Australia skipper Aaron Finch.

2,218 – Eoin Morgan’s aggregate runs in T20Is. With his 66 against Pakistan, Morgan leapfrogged Australia opener David Warner in the top five T20I run-scorers’ chart.

9 – The number of half-centuries Morgan has scored in T20Is as captain. That’s the joint-highest by a captain, alongside New Zealand’s Kane Williamson. Kohli, Finch and the former South Africa captain Faf du Plessis all have eight.

54.60 – Dawid Malan’s batting average at the end of his innings, the highest of any batsman with more than 500 T20I runs, a milestone he passed during his innings. Second on the list is Babar Azam, with Malan’s average crossing Babar’s during his innings.

3 – The 199-5 England posted in their chase is their third-highest tally in successful chases. Their second-highest came earlier this year, in Centurion against South Africa in February when they scored 226-5 and their highest remains the 230-8 they scored against the same opposition in Mumbai in the 2016 World T20.

199-5 – England’s score is the highest second-innings total against Pakistan in T20Is. They surpassed the 197-7 Australia managed against Pakistan in their 2010 World Twenty20 semi-final encounter. It is also the highest total for either innings in England-Pakistan encounters.

69 – Mohammad Hafeez’s score is the fourth-highest individual total in an England-Pakistan T20I encounter, and the second-highest total by a Pakistan batsman. The highest individual score in England-Pakistan T20I clashes is 54-ball 75 Shoaib Malik scored in Sharjah in 2015.

2,061 & 54 – Hafeez is the only player in men’s T20Is to achieve the double of 2,000 runs and 50 wickets in the format. He needed eight runs to reach the 2,000 mark on Sunday – he scored 69, to aggregate 2,061 runs to go with his 54 T20I wickets.

This article was brought to you in association with Wisden’s official betting partner, bet365 . For all the latest England vs Pakistan odds and in-play markets, visit bet365

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