Liam Livingstone smashed the fastest fifty and hundred for England but failed to secure a win against Pakistan in the first T20 International. Livingstone reached his half-century in just 17 balls while completed his swashbuckling ton in 42 deliveries, both English records, but this was not enough to chase the target of 233 runs, set by Pakistan.
Batting first, Pakistan amassed a total of 232-6 in 20 overs with Babar Azam hitting 85 in just 49 balls. Mohammad Rizwan made 63 in 41 balls as he added 150 runs with Babar Azam for the opening wicket in 14.4 overs. Barring David Willey, every single English bowler conceded more than 11 runs in their bowling quotas.
England’s run chase was electric but they kept losing wickets at a regular interval. However, Livingstone remained resolute from the other end as he kept punishing Pakistani bowler. He completed his century by hitting the ninth six of his innings. England were eventually bowled out for 201 in 19.2 overs. Shaheen Afridi picked up three wickets for Pakistan.
Livingstone was quoted by the BBC as saying, “We’ve spent 10 days in isolation. It was nice to have that break and I came back in feeling really fresh. I didn’t pick a bat up for 10 days then came back in yesterday and felt really good.”
England had defeated Pakistan 3-0 in the just-concluded One Day International series with its B team after most of its regular players had to miss the competition due to coronavirus outbreak.
