Pakistan
all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez lauded debutant Haider Ali’s composure as the two
starred in their five-run win over England in the final match of the Twenty20
International series at Old Trafford on Tuesday.

The win, which
was Pakistan’s first over their hosts in 66 days of being in a bio-secure in England,
levelled the three-match series 1-1. The tourists lost the three-match Test
series 1-0 last month.

Also Read: Captain Eoin Morgan leads England to victory against Pakistan in second T20

Hafeez scored
an unbeaten 86 and Haider scored 54 to help Pakistan reach their 190-4 total. The
20-year age gap between 39-year-old Hafeez and 19-year-old Haider was not
apparent during their 100-run stand after Pakistan were reduced to 32-2.

Hafeez’s knock
comes after his 69-run innings in Pakistan’s five-wicket loss to England in the
second match at Old Trafford on Sunday. Haider came on after opener Fakhar
Zaman was castled by Moeen Ali and showed no signs of nerves as he slog-swept
his second delivery in international cricket for a six.

Haider smashed
five fours and two sixes during his 28-ball fifty, becoming the first Pakistan
batsman to score a fifty on his T20 international debut.  

“He was
good under pressure and just expressed himself,” Hafeez, who was adjudged
player of the series, told Sky Sports.

“I was just
trying to back him every time, tell him ‘you are playing well, continue like
that. It is great to see youngsters coming from our system and performing well,”
Hafeez said.

“We had a
plan and achieved a total and then bowled very well. Moeen played a superb
knock but our bowlers did well to win the match,” said Pakistan skipper Babar Azam,
who scored 21 runs on Tuesday.

“I told the
bowler (Rauf) to bowl yorkers. One ball he bowled a really bad ball (the one
hit for six by Curran) but that is part of the game!” said Babar, who will
remain in England to feature for Somerset in the Twenty20 Blast.  

Also Read: Former cricketers congratulate England’s James Anderson on his 600 Test wickets

England Captain
Eoin Morgan, meanwhile, was pleased to see Ali return to form with the bat. “Moeen
is a joy to watch, very elegant. For him to come out and almost be the
cornerstone at the back-end of a victory was great,” Morgan said.

Left-arm
pacer Shaheen Afridi came up with the breakthrough just four balls into England’s
chase. Morgan, who scored 66 on Sunday, was then run-out for 10 after a mix up
with Tom Banton, who himself was lbw a short while later to Rauf.

England were
69-4 during their chase but Moeen Ali, who could have been stumped at 7 by
wicketkeeper Sarfaraz Ahmed, kept England in the game with a well-made 61.

However,
Wahab Riaz, who replaced Mohammad Amir for this match, ran out Chris Jordan and
caught and bowled Moeen Ali to reduce England to 174-8. With the final two deliveries
of the match left, and England needing 12 runs from them, Tom Curran hit a six
to set up a dramatic finish.

He could
not repeat the feat, as pacer Haris Rauf bowled a wide yorker to seal Pakistan’s
win.