“Hopefully, Harry Brook is alright”: Harry Brook hugged by Haris Rauf after catching ball in helmet grille in Karachi T20I

Harry Brook hugged by Haris Rauf: The debutant batter was involved in a bizarre incident at the National Stadium tonight.

England captain Moeen Ali had hinted at the toss about needing to post a big score in third T20I against Pakistan in Karachi earlier in the evening.

Ali would have been a happy skipper after the first innings as his team put on board 221/3 in 20 overs without even requiring him in the batting department.

Playing only their fourth and seventh T20I respectively, England batters Ben Duckett and Harry Brook put together a 69-ball 139-run fourth-wicket partnership to outdo their batting performance from last night. In what is the fourth-highest fourth-wicket partnership in T20Is, it is the highest among England batters for this wicket and sixth-highest for any wicket.

While Duckett scored 70* (42) at a strike rate of 166.66, Brook caused more damage scoring 81* (35) at a strike rate of 231.42 after coming in to bat at No. 5 in the ninth over. The pair hit a total of 16 fours and six sixes between them to not let fall of wickets hamper England’s progress in the middle overs.

Harry Brook hugged by Haris Rauf after catching ball in helmet grille

Brook, however, was involved in a bizarre incident at the National Stadium tonight. It all happened on the fourth delivery of the 17th over when Brook completely missed reading a bouncer from Pakistan fast bowler and his Lahore Qalandars teammate Haris Rauf.

As a result, what followed was Brook finding himself in an uncomfortable position only to get hit on the grille of his helmet. Having practically caught the ball with his grille, the right-handed batter registered a strange sight but was lucky enough to not get hurt.

“Oh, that’s got caught in the grille. It’s a dead ball. Hopefully, Harry Brook is alright. He could have just run and got a single,” commentators were heard saying as they saw the funny side of the whole episode.

Handed a debut to replace Alex Hales (rested) in the Playing XI, England’s Will Jacks also batted well to score 40 (22) with the help of eight fours at a strike rate of 181.81.