Birmingham [UK], May 26 (ANI): England skipper Jos Buttler showered praise on Jofra Archer’s performance in the 2nd T20I match against Pakistan and said he was brilliant.
Archer picked up two wickets, Azam Khan and Imad Wasim, and gave 28 runs in his four-over spell at an economy rate of 7.00.
Archer is one of cricket’s most exciting bowlers whose career has been derailed by injuries. The 29-year-old has barely featured for England in any format since 2021, mainly because of ongoing issues with his right elbow for which he has undergone two operations. A back injury ruled him out of most of 2022.
His last appearance for England dates back to May 2023, and since then, he has been on the road to recovery from an elbow injury that forced him out for nearly 12 months.
Speaking after the match, Buttler said Archer is trying to get back into his old form. He further said that the whole English bowling attack was brilliant against Pakistan.
“He was brilliant, you can see the emotions. Taking wickets again for England, it’s fantastic. You got to temper the expectations, it’s a long time, he’s not going to be the Jofra Archer of old straightaway. But, a really positive performance. It’s trying to absolutely want to get games into him but look after him as well. The whole bowling group was brilliant,” Buttler said.
Recapping the match, put to batting first by Pakistan, England lost the in-form opener Phil Salt for just 13 to Pakistan’s returning all-rounder Imad Wasim, with Shaheen Afridi taking a fine catch at long-on. (25/1).
England could not really get those big hits that much as wickets kept falling. Buttler was dismissed for 84 in 51 balls, with eight fours and three sixes as the fifth man to go by Haris. Pakistan made a solid comeback to restrict England to 183/7 in their 20 overs.
Shaheen Shah Afridi (3/36) and Haris Rauf (2/34) shined with the ball for Pakistan.
In the run-chase, Pakistan lost openers Mohammed Rizwan and Saim Ayub early, reduced to 14/2. Leaving aside a 53-run partnership between skipper Babar Azam (32 in 26 balls, with four boundaries) and Fakhar Zaman (45 in 21 balls, with five fours and three sixes) and a 40-run stand between Iftikhar Ahmed (23 in 17 balls, with four and two sixes) and Imad Wasim (22 in 13 balls, with two fours and a six), Pakistan just could not keep going and were bundled out for 160 runs in 19.2 overs.
Topley (3/41) and Archer (2/28) were the top bowlers for England. Moeen Ali also got two wickets. (ANI)
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