England fell behind, while Pakistan found control, before Harry Brook took the reins and won the match. In Pallekele, England’s captain scored a dominating T20 International century, allowing his side to surpass Pakistan and qualify for the semi-finals of the 2026 T20 World Cup. It was neither consistent nor easy for Brook, but he played a major role in ultimately winning the game for England, who had to chase down 165 and ended up winning by just 2 runs with only a couple of deliveries remaining.
The only other English batsman to achieve a score greater than 30 in the innings was Harry Brook (100).
Captain Leads From The Front
Brook had experienced a sequence of performances which were greatly inconsistent, primarily because of difficulties he had experienced with the spin department of the bowling. Scores had been lower than his standard or his expectations. On Tuesday evening, he changed that when he promoted himself from No. 4 to No. 3 for his first time in a T20I. He did so at a time when Shaheen Afridi took the first wicket of the England innings – the wicket of Phil Salt. Then shortly thereafter, Jos Buttler followed suit with an exit for just 2 runs, thus leaving England looking wobbly.
Afridi took three wickets in the first six overs of the powerplay, and Usman Tariq bowled well throughout the middle overs of the innings. England had appeared weak with a score of 58 for 4 and then later, 103 for 5.
Brook refused to go into a shell and attacked both pace and spin being delivered at him. Brook aggressively used his feet and found the boundary routinely, even hitting Afridi for a six followed by a four and reaching his 100 in just 50 balls, before being clean bowled by a perfect yorker from Afridi in his subsequent delivery. Brook left the field to a standing ovation by the crowd in the stadium.
At that point, England needed 10 runs to win; they nearly contrived to mess that outcome up as the last two wickets fell quickly and some nerves crept into the England batting lineup. Jofra Archer carved the win with his 4th boundary.
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Pakistan Falters Despite Farhan
Pakistan’s score of 164 runs (for 9 wickets) did not apHarry Brookpear too powerful. Sahibzada Farhan’s innings of 63 continued to help his team push towards becoming competitive, as he currently leads the tournament with a total of 283 runs scored. There is still very little support for Farhan.
The middle order of Pakistan had some difficulty scoring quickly, including Babar Azam’s difficulties. Dawson kept control with figures of 3 for 24 in the middle overs. Rashid also did a good job varying his pace throughout the match, which caused Pakistan to lose their tempo and never have a true opportunity to regain it.
Progress Without Perfection
For the fifth time in a row, England has reached the semifinals of the men’s T20 World Cup. However, there remains some uncertainty regarding their performances. Fielding errors were present throughout the matches, and Buttler still has not found his best form. The batting side of England’s game heavily relies on Brook to produce runs.
That said, success in these types of competitions is often rewarded for how well teams handle adversity versus the style of play used. England believes that the inability to start strong in tournaments provides little value.
On the basis of the above arguments, it is possible that England will have enough success without being at their best if they have a captain who embraces this opportunity.
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