Pakistan vs England 2022

‘The momentum changed when I bowled my over’ – Moeen Ali gives insight on the turning point of the match against Pakistan

T20 cricket is all about instinct and the beauty is that the format is a very open format. A game can turn on its head in a matter of overs or a few balls and that is what makes T20 Cricket so interesting. In this regard, something happened along those lines in the second T20 for England against Pakistan, and the man at the forefront of it all was Moeen Ali.

England set a big target of 199 in their 20 overs and Pakistan knew that they can only be in the game if the openers make it count. Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan shed any inhibitions of poor form and played out of their skin to put Pakistan in pole position in the chase.

Pakistan was on course in their chase as they were 104 for no loss in the 13th over when the standby skipper Moeen Ali brought himself on. He wanted to try and get a wicket so that England got back into the contest, but as luck would have it, the move backfired as he gave away 21 runs in the over, which included 3 sixes. The over from Moeen took the momentum to Pakistan’s side and after this, it was all one-way traffic from there.

Pakistan switched gears and Babar Azam went on to score his second century in the T20 format which was accompanied by sizzling innings of 88 which helped Pakistan chase down the mammoth total of 199 easily.

The momentum changed when I bowled: Moeen Ali

“The momentum changed when I bowled my over. That really gave them the belief and after that, they were almost unstoppable,” Moeen said. “I felt like it was under control for most of it. I genuinely feel my over lost the game for us. That was a gamble on my part. I went to try and get a wicket, almost buy a wicket. Obviously, it didn’t work and that’s when Pakistan really won the game,” he added.

The 7-match series is currently levelled at 1-1.