Hafeez, Riaz star as Pakistan defeat England in third T20I

Manchester [UK], September 2 (ANI): Mohammad Hafeez's 86-run knock and Wahab Riaz's two-wicket haul helped Pakistan defeat England by five runs in the third and final T20I of the three-match series here at the Emirates Old Trafford Stadium.
With this win, Pakistan levelled the three-match T20I series 1-1.
The first T20I between both sides was abandoned due to rain, while the second match was won by England.
Chasing 191, England got off to a bad start as the side lost Jonny Bairstow (0) and Dawid Malan (7) by the fourth over of the innings and the side found itself at 26/2.
The in-form batters Eoin Morgan (10) and Tom Banton (46) also failed to stay at the crease for a long time and as a result, England found itself at 69/4 in the eighth over.
Moeen Ali and Sam Billings then retrieved the innings for the hosts as the duo put on 57 runs for the fifth wicket, but as soon as England started gaining an upper hand, Pakistan came back as Wahab Riaz dismissed Billings (26) in the 15th over.
Moeen Ali (61) was going all guns blazing for the hosts, but he was finally sent back to the pavilion in the penultimate over by Riaz and as a result, England stumbled to a five-run loss.
Wahab Riaz and Shaheen Shah Afridi scalped two wickets each for Pakistan.
Earlier, knocks of 86 and 54 by Mohammad Hafeez and Haider Ali helped Pakistan post a total of 190/4 in the allotted twenty overs.
After being put in to bat, Pakistan got off to a bad start as the side lost opener Fakhar Zaman (1) in the second over of the innings as he was clean bowled by Moeen Ali.
Tom Curran then got the key breakthrough of Babar Azam (21) in the fifth over after going through his defence and this reduced Pakistan to 32/2.
After Azam's dismissal, Mohammad Hafeez came to the crease and he along with Haider Ali retrieved the innings for Pakistan. The partnership between both these batsmen saw Haider Ali registering half-century in his very first T20I for Pakistan. With this, Haider Ali became the first Pakistan batsman to register half-century on his T20I debut.
Haider Ali and Hafeez put on 100 runs for the third wicket and this stand gave Pakistan much-needed momentum in the innings. Hafeez went on to register his second consecutive T20I fifty.
Chris Jordon finally provided the much-needed breakthrough to England in the 15th over as he clean bowled Haider Ali (54), reducing Pakistan to 132/3.
In the final overs, Hafeez (86*) carried on the momentum as he hit some big shots to take Pakistan's total past the run mark.
Brief Scores: Pakistan 190/4 (Mohammad Hafeez 86*, Haider Ali 54, Chris Jordon 2-29) defeat England 185/8 (Moeen Ali 61, Tom Banton 46, Wahaz Riaz 2-26) by five runs. (ANI)