Toss : England won the toss and decided to bat

Teams: 

England : JJ Roy, AD Hales, JM Vince, JE Root, JC Buttler*, SW Billings?, DJ Willey, CR Woakes, AU Rashid, LE Plunkett, SD Parry

Pakistan : Rafatullah Mohmand, Ahmed Shehzad, Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Umar Akmal, Sohaib Maqsood, Sarfraz Ahmed?, Shahid Afridi*, Anwar Ali, Sohail Tanvir, Wahab Riaz

England innings: Buoyed by their success in the 1st T20I, England started confidently, reaching 32 in just 4 overs before double strike from Afridi removed Hales and Roy. Shoaib Malik returning from injury then made his presence felt with the wicket of Joe Root, thanks to a superb catch by Shahid Afridi. Pakistan T20I captain then became the highest wicket in T20Is, surpassing Saeed Ajmal, when he removed Vince to end up with 3 wickets in his 4 over spell. Wahab Riaz who had been struggling a bit in this game came to the party of an all important wicket of 1st T20I tormentor-in-chief Billings when Umar Akmal took a stupendous catch. Jos Buttler who was threatening to put the game out of Pakistan's reach with some brilliant hitting off Sohail Tanvir paid the price of one shot too many as he helped one to the keeper. Anwar Ali then dealt two important blows to send Plunkett and Willey back to the pavilion; England then ended their innings on a 172/8, a challenging total for Pakistan in a must-win game.

Fall of Wickets:

1-32 (Hales, 4.1 ov)
2-47 (Roy, 6.4 ov)
3-74 (Root, 10.3 ov)
4-109 (Vince, 13.4 ov)
5-136 (Billings, 16.3 ov)
6-150 (Buttler, 17.5 ov)
7-151 (Plunkett, 18.1 ov)
8-154 (Willey, 18.4 ov)

Pakistan innings: Pakistan openers came out with all guns blazing, as they should in a T20I. Unconventional as he is. Mohmand combined with Shehzad to give Pakistan a fifty run opening partnership in no time before Shehzad was stumped off Stephen Parry. Mohamand on the other end was going strong in the way he normally does but Adil Rashid ended his stay after drawing him out and then getting him stumped. Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik then put on a masterclass of T20 batting before Hafeez was caught off a leading edge to give an important breakthrough for England. Further pressure piled on the homeside with the departure of Sohaib Maqsood to Adil Rashid and then a bizarre decision for caught behind for Umar Akmal. With the required run-rate hitting 15.14, Shoaib Malik had to take some desperate measures and he perished attempting just that. In walked Shahid Afridi and did what he does best - tried to hit each ball to Mars! Although, he departed after hitting 3 sixes, he gave Pakistan a chance to win with the equation reduced to 25 off 12 balls. Sarfraz Ahmed, Sohail Tanvir and Anwar Ali then took the game to the last over but were unable to hit the big shots as needed.

Fall of Wickets:

1-51 (Ahmed Shehzad, 4.6 ov)
2-60 (Rafatullah Mohmand, 8.1 ov)
3-90 (Mohammad Hafeez, 11.2 ov)
4-93 (Sohaib Maqsood, 12.3 ov)
5-107 (Umar Akmal, 14.3 ov)
6-120 (Shoaib Malik, 16.4 ov)
7-148 (Shahid Afridi, 17.6 ov)
8-162 (Sarfraz Ahmed, 19.1 ov)

Summary: Shahid Afridi was the difference today. He lead with the ball and his Boom Boom confidence put Pakistan in a winning position. The fact that the rest of the batting failed to make an impact does not augur well for the big prize, the World T20. With the series lost, for the moment though, Pakistan fans may well be happy with a face saving victory in the 3rd T20I.