Inzamam ul Haq analyses Pakistan's loss, says 'It seemed as if they were playing T20s'

Former skipper Inzamam ul Haq was very annoyed with Pakistan's lackluster performance in the second ODI that was played at the 'Mecca of Cricket' Lord's on Saturday as the Men In Green ended up conceding the One Day International series after a humiliating 52-run loss. 

Inzamam ul Haq slams Pakistan after series loss

"If we talk about today's match then there's a lot of disappointment. I do agree that you perform like this in one match but then you repeat the same performance in the second game as well. I think that the Pakistan team is trying to play T20. They are going for big shots, not even looking to rotate strikes and take singles. This is a 50-over game and not 20-overs", said Inzamam ul Haq while interacting on his official YouTube channel.

"Pakistan played 151 dot balls i.e. you did not play your entire quota of overs but ended up playing 60-70% dot balls. You did not even rotate strikes," he added.

"It seemed as if they were playing T20s. They were ready to strike big, hit boundaries. As long as you don't take singles in ODIs, don't spend time on the wicket you will only be able to score 150, 190, etc.  You must give some time to yourself on the pitch, you have to take singles. This is not T20 where you will be able to score with fours and sixes," the 1992 World Cup winner further added.

England vs Pakistan

Coming back to the contest, Pakistan captain Babar Azam won the toss and elected to bowl first. Pacer Hasan Ali provided Pakistan with an early breakthrough as he dismissed Dawid Malan for a duck. Shaheen Shah Afridi joined the party and bowled out Zak Crawley in the fifth over. Peter Salt and James Vince were looking good in the middle as they forged an important partnership between overs 11-20. However, the duo was dismissed by Saud Shakeel and Shadab Khan for 60 and 56 runs respectively.

England skipper Ben Stokes scored a crucial 22 runs off 26 balls before being bowled out by Hasan Ali. The Pakistani pacer went on to pick three more wickets to take a five-wicket haul at the iconic Lord's stadium. England was reeling at 161/7 and was nearing a Pakistan-like collapse when all-rounder Lewis Gregory took charge and helped the team cross the 200-run mark with an important partnership with lower-order batsman Brydon Carse. Gregory scored 40 off 47 balls, while Carse hit 31 off 41 balls. 

In the end, England posted a total of 247 runs in 45.2 overs. Lewis Gregory proved to be crucial with the ball as well as he dismissed Pakistan opener Imam-ul-Haq for just one run. Saqib Mahmood came in and dismissed Babar Azam yet again after the Pakistan skipper scored a quick 19 off 15 balls. Saud Shakeel was the only Pakistani batsman who managed to cross the 50-run mark in the innings as he hit 56 off 77 balls when the rest of the squad was falling apart like a pack of cards. Shakeel received some help from Sohaib Maqsood and Shadab Khan. After Shakeel was dismissed in the 40th over, the game was finished for Pakistan as the former world champions still needed 50 odd runs to win the match with just one wicket remaining.  

The game ended after number 11 batsman Haris Rauf was caught behind in the 41st over by John Simpson off Lewis Gregory.