England were 6 down and still 54 runs away from the target with 34 deliveries left.

Pakistan were in the driver's seat and they remained there till the end of 17 overs when England needed 33 off 18 with only 3 wickets left.

Just when all looked good, Hasnain, who had made Pakistan's defense possible to start with, was targeted by Liam Dawson.

Dawson smashed Hasnain, who had so far given only 16 runs in his 3 overs, for 24 runs and it seemed all was lost for Pakistan with England needing only 9 runs off the final 12 deliveries with Dawson in fine form.

Enter Haris Rauf to bowl the 19th over of the innings.

6 deliveries. 5 runs. 2 wickets!

Haris, with his 150 kmh+ thunderbolts, brought Pakistan right back into it.

England who had stumbled, and then were cruising, before stumbling and cruising again, were left to get 4 runs off the final over with their final pair at the crease.

A run out, which was caused due to the panic that Haris Rauf had created in the penultimate over, meant that Pakistan had just snatched victory form the jaws of defeat!

And to steal a line shared by a friend:

That truly is Pakistan for you.

There was another meme that I just loved.

Poor Bhuvi thought, a trusted death bowler at one time, he is just having a horrid time at the death lately. 

But it is ok, we can all laugh a little at India's expense, especially when Pakistan has provided some heroics.

Haris Rauf was truly exceptional.

It really was a great win, and all Pakistan fans were back to cheering the greens on, just 1.5 hours after they had volleyed wide range of abuse on the batsmen who slugged their way to a middling 166.

The criticism, even though harsh, was not unjustified.

Babar and Rizwan, as always, had provided Pakistan a great start, having put on 53 in the powerplay.

The next 4 overs produced only 29 runs, and the critics were out with swords!

82-0 after 10 overs is a score I will happily take every single game. It was a solid platform that had been laid by the best batsmen in the business, who do this more often then not.

What happened after that is the problem.

From 82-0, a score of 180 should be no problem at all.

Yet, Pakistan ended on only 166, that too due to Asif Ali's two 6s in the final over. 

When Babar fell trying to up the tempo in the 12th over, Shan Masood walked out with 8 overs still remaining. 

Pakistan could have been more flexible by sending in a Nawaz or Asif Ali at that point, but given how Shan had batted in the 3rd T20I, it was a fair call in my opinion.

But Shan could not middle a single delivery during his stay at the crease. It was a painful innings from the "saviour" of Pakistan's middle order.

Rizwan also seemed to have lost his touch after Babar's departure.

Shan fell with 9 deliveries left in the innings.

Khushdil Shah, who has been the worst of the lot among Pakistan's middle order of rabbits, walked out and I was shocked!

Only 9 deliveries to go and you don't send out Asif Ali???

WHY!?

Why does Khushdil keep getting game after game?

How is he higher in the pecking order than Asif Ali?

It makes no sense to me.

Why is Pakistan's management not showing more flexibility? Where is the think tank that sent Nawaz up the order against India, and Shadab up the order against Afghanistan, during the Asia Cup?

That flexibility gave Pakistan the desired results, so why not do more of it?

Iftikhar bowled a great spell last night. Why doesn't he bowl more often? There have been previous games where Pakistan could have used additional overs of spin, so why wasn't Iftikhar used?

Despite this great win by Pakistan, there are still a number of questions to ponder on.

One can only hope that in future games Pakistan will be more flexible with their batting options, they will stop relying on Khushdil Shah, and they will utilize more spin.

It is about time!

When Babar and Rizwan bat the way they did in Karachi last night, Pakistan don't need a middle order.

Babar and Rizwan shut down all critics questioning their presence as openers for Pakistan, their strike rate, their ability to utilize the powerplay to full potential, the pressure they were placing on the middle order, and all such garbage that was being said by experts and fans.

Last night in Karachi, the two champion batsmen showed the world why they are the best opening pair for Pakistan and why they are the best batsmen in T20 cricket in the world!

During the epic chase, Pakistan, along with Babar and Rizwan, created a number of records.

Yes, the feat has not even been achieved in franchise T20 cricket, let alone internationals.

Pakistan now have two entries in the list of highest scores chased without losing a wicket in T20Is.

Not too long back they were ranked number 1 and number 2 in T20Is. The latest rankings have them at 1 and 4. I think when the rankings are updated next week, they will be number 1 and 2 again.

Undoubtedly, these two are simply the best in the world. What they achieved last night was quite unbelievable.

Having said that, if anyone had asked me before last night about which opening pair was the most likely to chase a score of over 200 without being dismissed in a T20I, I would have named these two!

Their ability to chase big totals in T20Is is quite unparalleled.

Babar and Rizwan now hold the record for 2 of the highest 5 partnerships in T20Is.

The partnership of 203* was their 5th partnership of 150 or more. No other pair in T20Is even comes close to that many 150+ partnerships.

Babar and Rizwan broke their own record of 197, which they had put on against South Africa last year.

Babar and Rizwan now have the highest partnership runs, most number of centuries, and the best partnership average in all T20Is.

Yes you heard that right. Anyone who has any reservations about their strike rates or their impact at the top of the innings is only delusional.

Not only do they have the top two averages among openers in T20Is, they also have strike rates as good as other openers around the world.

When measuring their impact, I used an adjusted average metric (Average x Strike Rate / 100) to determine the overall impact made by an opener in T20Is.

The result is here for everyone to see and wonder.

Anything I say about him will not be enough praise, nor will it do full justice, to the absolute talent that he is as a batsman.

Babar Azam is the best batsman in the world across formats.

Here is what he achieved last night with his epic unbeaten knock of 110.

2. Babar joined Faf Du Plessis and David Warner as the only three batsmen in this world who have scored a century in each format at the same ground - Karachi, the Wanderers, and Adelaide Oval, respectively.

He also has the third most runs in T20Is as captain; is only behind Virat Kohli in terms of average as captain; and is ahead of everyone else with 16 50s as captain.

He got there in only 218 innings, 5 more than the Universe Boss - Chris Gayle.

I am still in awe of what Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan achieved last night.

And I am still in shock at experts and fans who have been harping on about how Pakistan needs to change their opening combination.

Last night was a good reminder about previous chases of 208, 201, and 189. Of previous wins set up by Babar and Rizwan. Of the so many platforms that these two have provided this team.

It is not their fault that the middle order is not good enough. It is surely their fault that the middle order does not get enough chances to bat, but certainly not their fault if the middle order can't finish games.

Babar and Rizwan will not always do what they did against England in the second T20I of the 7 match series.

They can't be expected to set up a platform as well as finish games. At times they will do both, at times they will just do their part and leave it to the rest to finish, at times they will fail.

Pakistan has two champions at the top of their order who need to be cherished by one and all. Such batsmen are produced once in generations. Savor their performances!

Imad should have bowled the next over, i.e. the 14th, and finished off his spell. Especially considering a new batsman on the crease and Imad's previous 3-run over.

However, Babar turned to pace and handed the ball to Haris Rauf. It was a decent over and went for only 6 runs.

Still time to bring Imad back to finish off his spell.

But no, Babar went to Shaheen. Still a decent over with only 6 runs conceded.

Continue with Haris would be the wise choice, or even Imad; but Babar handed the ball to Hasan and that opened the flood gates.

Each of the next overs was a double figure one and Australia raced home with an over to spare.

Why didn't Imad complete his spell?

In the Asia Cup Final, Babar brought on Shadab and Iftikhar right after the Power Play, as they bowled the 7th and 8th overs of the innings.

The reason he went with Iftikhar, and not Nawaz, was because the left handed Rajapaksa was at the crease.

Fair.

Both Shadab and Iftikhar bowled beautifully and had Sri Lanka by the throat on 62-5 after 9 overs.

At the end of 12 overs, Sri Lanka were 85-5, and Shadab and Iftikhar had bowled 3 overs each, giving away less than 7 runs an over.

For the 13th over, Babar went back to pace, and Hasnain leaked 14 runs!

Shadab bowled the 14th over for 7 runs and completed his spell.

The 15th was bowled by Haris and it went for 11 runs.

Why not let Iftikhar finish his 4 overs?

Instead of letting Iftikhar complete his spell, Babar turned to Nawaz for the 16th over, whom he had not bowled at all till now due to Rajapaksa's presence. Yet he still brought him on while Rajapaksa was smashing it around.

Nawaz gave only 3 runs in his over.

Now, with 4 overs left in the innings, Babar had the option to bowl Iftikhar for 1 over, and Nawaz for another 2!

But no! 

He went with pace and in the next 4 overs, Rajapaksa and Sri Lanka raced away and smashed 50 runs!!!

Why Babar Why?

Where is it written that your pacers need to complete their 4 overs? Where is it written that you cannot utilize spin in the death overs?

Clearly the Lankans were liking the pace and the spinners had kept them quiet.

Could Babar not read the game the way we did?

Pakistan's pacers bowled 11.2 overs and gave away 102 runs at a run rate of 9 runs per over.

Pakistan's spinners bowled 8 overs and gave away 56 runs at a run rate of 7 runs per over.

England's required rate at the start of the innings was 8 runs an over.

It was clear that England's batsmen were comfortable against pace, but struggled a bit against spin.

A few more overs of spin from Iftikhar or Khushdil could have pushed the asking rate a bit higher making it a difficult chase for England.

But no, Babar will never think of spin to win.

I find it really strange why he keeps repeating the same mistake in every match.

Has the coaching team not advised him on this?

Is there no one in the whole Pakistan set up that sees this?

Pakistan has world class spinners that can win them games...

... but why doesn't Babar utilize them more?

We all know Shan Masood the opener as that is what he has been for the most part of his career.

Even the international cricket he has played for Pakistan has been as an opener in Tests and in ODIs.

An average of 29 in Tests and 22 in ODIs suggests that he has been mediocre in international cricket, despite turning it on in domestic cricket for the past few years.

He was never regarded as a T20 batsman. So much so that he did not even make it to the XI at times for his PSL franchise, the Multan Sultans.

However, in 2022, Shan Masood transformed his game. He has had a fine year in T20 cricket in 2022 and he has credited Mickey Arthur for this success.

In yesterday's first T20I between Pakistan and England, Shan Masood walked out to bat at 4 and the commentators, particularly Wasim Akram and Urooj Mumtaz, went on about how Shan is an opener and that he would find it difficult to adjust to batting at number 4.

I wondered why both commentators were so clueless when making those statements. I also wondered why no one in the combox corrected them.

The thing is that Shan Masood has not only transformed his game to become an attacking batsman suited to all formats of the game, he has also shifted to playing at number 4 in T20 cricket.

I believe he made this switch considering that Pakistan currently possess solid opening pairs in all three formats. With no opening position up for grabs in the Pakistan team, Shan likely wanted to create his space in the middle order.

And this is how he did it.

In the just completed National T20 Cup, Pakistan's domestic T20 competition, Shan Masood played 9 matches for Balochistan, and he batted at number 4 in all of those 9 matches.

In these 9 innings, he scored 215 runs at an average of 31 and a strike rate of 128.

Decent returns that definitely made a case for his presence in Pakistan's abysmal middle order.

Here's a breakdown of his 9 innings at number 4 for Balochistan in the National T20 Cup:

So no, Shan Masood was not new to batting at 4, nor did the Pakistan team management make it difficult for him by making him bat at an unfamiliar position.

Shan Masood batted at 4 in the Pakistan's T20 competition with some success, which resulted in his selection for Pakistan, who were looking to shore up their middle order after the consistent failures in the Asia Cup.

Shan Masood batted for Pakistan in the same position that he batted in Pakistan's most recent T20 competition.

Would be good if the commentators had a bit more knowledge.

Anyhow, not that it makes any difference to Pakistan's middle order though - they are all damn rabbits!