Spinners shine as England beats Pak

England’s stand-in skipper Jos Buttler top-scored with 59 before their spinners ripped through the Pakistan batting unit to seal a 45-run win in the second Twenty20 International and level the series at 1-1 on Sunday.

England tightened their grip in the middle overs as leg-spinner Adil Rashid removed Mohammad Rizwan and Sohaib Maqsood in his second spell.

Off-spinner Moeen Ali removed Mohammad Hafeez and Fakhar Zaman cheaply as Pakistan were left tottering at 95-5.

Azam Khan was stumped off Matt Parkinson’s leg-break, before Mahmood returned to rip through the lower order and restrict the tourists to 155-9 in 20 overs.

Earlier, Buttler marked his return to the national team with his 14th T20I fifty as England were bowled out for 200 with a ball to spare.

Buttler was declared fit after a calf injury and took the captaincy as Eoin Morgan chose to rest himself in a bid to rotate his squad ahead of this year’s T20 World Cup.

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