International

ICC T20 World Cup: England extends New Zealand’s wait with thrilling win, Pakistan’s hopes also alive

By Samira Vishwas

Colombo, 27 February. The all-round performances of Will Jacques and Rehan Ahmed proved to be decisive for England, who bounced back from the brink of defeat in the Super 8 Group 2 match of the ICC T20 World Cup here on Friday to achieve a thrilling four-wicket win with three balls to spare and not only extended the wait for New Zealand in the race to be the second semi-finalist team from the group but also revived Pakistan’s hopes.

All-round performance of Will Jacques and Rehan Ahmed is decisive for England

In fact, Jacques took two wickets for 23 runs in four overs and Rehan took two wickets for 28 runs in three overs and played an important role in restricting New Zealand to 159 runs for seven wickets. After that, when England came out to chase the target, both of them gave the team victory with an unbroken partnership of 44 runs in just 16 balls for the seventh wicket. ‘Player of the Match’ Jacques played a brilliant inning of 32 unbeaten runs (one six, four fours) in 18 balls, while Rehan scored 19 unbeaten runs (two sixes, one four) in just seven balls.

Invincible England tops Group 2 in Super 8

England, who have already secured entry into the semi-finals, secured the top spot in Super 8 Group Two with a maximum of six points with their third consecutive win. Whereas New Zealand is currently in second place with four points from two wins after playing all three matches. At the same time, Pakistan’s (one point in two matches) hopes of entering the semi-finals are alive. But he will have to register a big win against Sri Lanka in his last match on Saturday, only then he will be able to leave New Zealand behind in net run rate.

Pakistan will be able to defeat New Zealand in the semi-final race on this condition

If we look at the picture that has emerged before the final match of Super 8 Group 2 between Pakistan and co-host Sri Lanka, who have already been eliminated from the competition, then England may have reached the last four, but in terms of net run rate, New Zealand (1.390) is at the forefront among all the four teams. Whereas Pakistan’s NRR is -0.461. That means, to get enough NRR to enter the semi-finals, Pakistan will have to win over Sri Lanka by at least 64 runs and achieve the target in 13.1 overs.

Jax and Rehan’s batting turned the tables at critical times.

Well, if we talk about the match, while chasing the target, the England team was in trouble after scoring 117 runs for six wickets in 17 overs and needed 43 runs from the last 18 balls. Currently, Jacques and Rehan, who were selected as the best players of the match for the fourth time in the tournament, turned the match by scoring 22 runs on Glenn Phillips in the 18th over and brought the equation to 21 runs in 12 balls. The pair gave England a decisive lead by scoring 16 runs from captain Mitchell Santner’s over and England achieved the target with three balls remaining.

Kiwi team failed to score big after good start

Earlier, the spin trio of Adil Rashid (2-28) along with Jacques and Rehan prevented New Zealand from scoring a big score after a good start. Only Glenn Phillips (39 runs, 28 balls, one six, four fours), Tim Seifert (35 runs, 25 balls, two sixes, three fours) and Finn Allen (29 runs, 19 balls, three sixes) could show some strength. In these, the opening pair of Seifert and Allen made a partnership of 64 runs in 42 balls. After this, wickets fell at regular intervals.

Jos Buttler made an English record of being out on zero

England got off to a poor start chasing the target, with Matt Henry and Lockie Ferguson returning both openers in the first two overs. Among them, experienced Jos Buttler was out for the 10th time without opening an account in T20 International. He became the England player with the most number of dismissals in this format.

score card

After this, the situation became a little better with the efforts of Tom Banton (33 runs, 24 balls, one six, three fours), captain Harry Brook (26 runs, 24 balls, one six, three fours), Sam Karen (24 runs, 22 balls, one six, two fours) and Jacob Bethel (21 runs, 16 balls, four fours). Despite this, the team was in trouble after losing six wickets at 117 in the 17th over. During this, Rachin Ravindra (3-19) had given three blows. At present, Jacques and Rehan played the role of trouble-shooters at a critical time and satisfied the wishes of the English camp.

saturday match : : Pakistan vs Sri Lanka (Super 8 Group Two, Pallekele, 7 pm).

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