"Wicket doesn't look as fresh, there's a lot more cracks," said England stand-in captain Moeen Ali while deciding to bat first as he reckoned that the wicket will play low and slow and would get even slower as the match progressed which is why they added an extra spinner to their side for the second T20I in Karachi. Pakistan skipper Babar Azam, on the other hand, said that 150-160 would be chaseable.
Everyone expected the wicket to play a little slow and the balls to grip in the surface and if anything Alex Hales' wicket showed where the ball remained lower than what England opener expected to crashing into his stumps, it seemed like it was a surface of a middling score.
However, not just the captains but the commentators, the players everyone was so wrong that the match ended up writing its name in the history books. England owing to Moeen's magic posted a total of 199 runs on the board. Everyone felt that this was out of reach for Pakistan.
But captain Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan, who have been under pressure as their intent and gameplan have been questioned in the last few matches, came out all guns blazing. Rizwan, especially made his intentions clear from the first ball itself, scoring a couple of boundaries. Babar took some time before he too started smashing. After which, whether it was a spinner, or a pacer, everyone was dealt the same way.
Since they were chasing 200, the run rate stayed around 10, however, the game-changer was the 13th over bowled by England captain, which went for 21 runs. Rizwan and Babar smashed 3 sixes in the over as they kept punishing the English bowlers.
Babar completed his second T20I century, the first Pakistan batter to do so as they both took their side to victory with three balls remaining. This was highest-ever chase by a side in T20Is without losing a wicket and 203* was also the 5th highest opening partnerships in T20Is. Here is the list of records broken in the second T20I:
Highest targets chased in T20Is without losing a wicket
200* - Pakistan vs England in Karachi, 2022
169 - New Zealand vs Pakistan in Hamilton, 2016
152 - Pakistan vs India in Dubai, 2021
140 - England vs New Zealand in Wellington, 2013
130 - South Africa vs Pakistan in Johannesburg, 2007
Highest opening partnerships in T20Is
236 - Hazratullah Zazai-Usman Ghani (AFG vs IRE), 2019
223 - Aaron Finch, D'Arcy Short (AUS vs ZIM), 2018
220 - S Davizi-Dylan Steyn (Czech Republic vs Bulgaria), 2022
213* - Balaji Pai-Louis Bruce (Gibraltar v Bulgaria), 2022
203* - Mohammad Rizwan-Babar Azam (PAK vs ENG), 2022
200 - Kyle Coetzer-George Munsey (SCO vs NED), 2019
Most T20I centuries for Pakistan
2* - Babar Azam
1 - Mohammad Rizwan
1 - Ahmed Shehzad
Most international centuries as Pakistan captain
10 - Babar Azam
9 - Inzamam-ul-Haq
8 - Misbah-ul-Haq
(With inputs from agencies)