On a slow Abu Dhabi pitch, the tourists were indebted to Kevin Pietersen, only the second man to carry his bat through a completed T20 international innings.

He made an unbeaten 62 in their 129-6 - and was then supported by a superb display by England's bowlers.

With Pakistan needing six from the final ball, Jade Dernbach bowled Misbah-ul-Haq to seal the series win.

Added to the 4-0 one-day series victory, triumph in the shortest form of the game provides England with further comfort following their humiliating 3-0 whitewash in the Test matches.

And, in their last T20 match in Asia before the sqaud is chosen for September's World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka, Stuart Broad's men will draw confidence ahead of the defence of the trophy they won in 2010.

However, questions will remain over England's ability to make runs against quality spin bowling, with only Pietersen - aided by a late cameo from Samit Patel - able to cope with another magical display by Saeed Ajmal, who picked up 4-23.

Strong on the leg side early in his innings, the Surrey right-hander was forced to rein in his attacking instincts and bat with restraint as England faltered in the middle overs.

His only mistake came when he sent back Eoin Morgan after initially calling his partner through for a single, leaving the Dublin-born batsman short of his ground despite a despairing dive.

That ended another struggle for the left-hander, who should have been stumped and offered a chance that fell short of mid-off. He will now sweat on his place in the squad for the Test series in Sri Lanka.

Morgan's exit came prior to a spell in which England went 33 balls without finding the boundary, during which time Ajmal removed Jonny Bairstow and Jos Buttler.

The shackles were broken by Patel, who launched Ajmal for a straight six and then, next ball, inside edged for four.

After he was stumped trying to repeat the dose, it was left to Pietersen to add late impetus by swinging Umar Gul's waist-high full toss for six off the final ball of the innings.

When Pakistan replied, England got the start they wanted, Jade Dernbach having Mohammad Hafeez caught and bowled but, with Pakistan needing little more than a run a ball, they were able to build slowly through Asad Shafiq and Awais Zia.

However, after Graeme Swann trapped Zia lbw, the pressure applied by England's bowlers told when Shafiq was run out attempting a second by Buttler's accurate throw from the deep.

Still, Pakistan were able to make steady progress and needed only 17 when Broad began the penultimate over of the series.

The accuracy of the England skipper would prove crucial as, after two dots, Umar Akmal holed out to mid-off.

That brought Shahid Afridi to the crease but the only runs Broad conceded came when Bairstow let Misbah's slog through his legs for four at long on.

With 13 required off the final over, victory was still not entirely out of Pakistan's reach.

But when Misbah, who found the boundary only twice in his 32-ball stay, was asked to clear the ropes from the final ball, he could not match the brilliant Pietersen.

DOHAWorld number one Victoria Azarenka swept into the quarter-finals of the Qatar Open with a swift demolition of Romanian Simona Halep on Thursday as Lucie Safarova claimed another top scalp.

Belarusian Azarenka, the Australian Open champion, won 10 games in a row on the way to beating the 63rd-ranked Halep 6-3, 6-1, while Safarova, who had knocked out the second seed Caroline Wozniacki on Wednesday, sent former US and French Open champion and 14th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova packing with a 7-6 (8/6), 6-3 victory.

Kuznetsova was the 12th of the 16 seeds in the 64-player draw to crash out of the event over the first four days.

Halep produced only brief moments of brilliance to secure a break in either set, but that was not enough to quell Azarenka, who stepped up her game after trailing 3-1 in the first set and raced to victory thereafter.

Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska fought back from a break down to advance to the last eight with a 7-5, 6-1 win over the USA's Varvara Lepchenko.

Radwanska, the world number six and fourth seed in Qatar, was too strong for the Uzbek-born Lepchenko who is yet to win a WTA title after turning pro as a 15-year-old way back in 2001.

Meanwhile, Australian third seed Samantha Stosur ousted the Czech Republic's Petra Cetkovska 6-3, 6-2, but Israeli Shahar Peer's quest for a first title in the Middle East ended prematurely.

Peer, whose participation in events in the Gulf has often generated a furore, was beaten 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 by the USA's Christina McHale. (AFP)

Amir Khan considering shot at WBC title

Amir Khan says he will probably fight only once more at light-welterweight before stepping up a division.

The 24-year-old is now considering adding the WBC title to the WBA and IBF belts he currently holds.

Khan told BBC Radio Manchester: "I wanted to fight [Timothy] Bradley for the undisputed title but he turned it down so the WBC stripped him.

"[Erik] Morales is fighting for that title in September so if he wins Morales could be an option," he added.

The Bolton boxer does have another option though, to fight the IBF's number-one contender Lamont Petersen.

Khan said: "The IBF title I've just won, the mandatory for that is Lamont Petersen so maybe that could be a possibility."

Whoever his next opponent is, Khan is planning only one more fight at 140lbs before moving up to welterweight and closer towards a fight with Floyd Mayweather.

"There may be one or two names left in this division. We'll get this fight out the way and maybe it might have to be that we move up to 147 because there's no one else," he added.

After he beat Zab Judah in their light-welterweight unification fight in Las Vegas Khan expressed a desire to fight American legend Mayweather.

"My aim is to move up the pound-for-pound rankings and to one day be pound-for-pound champion," he said.

"The Mayweather fight is something I'm looking at for the future and it would be huge for me. It would drive me on."

Rebecca Adlington seeks improvement for London Olympics

Double Olympic gold medallist Rebecca Adlington insists she has yet to reach her peak level of performance.

The 22-year-old won her first World Championships title in Shanghai last week, but is still seeking improvement leading into London 2012.

"With the strength of the competition I gained a lot of confidence from the Worlds," Adlington told BBC Sport.

"However, my turns are a weakness, my race tactics need work and I don't quite have enough speed."

Adlington won a gold in the 800m and a silver in the 400m freestyle in China, but failed to reach the semi-finals in the 200m, a result which may prompt her to avoid competing in the shorter distances in future events.

"Although I enjoy it and I love competing in the 4x200m relay with the other girls, I probably need to focus more on the 400m and 800m and do the best that I can in those," added the Mansfield-born swimmer, who won gold in the 400m and 800m at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

Adlington says she is learning much out of the pool as well, with her latest achievements proving she is now able to cope with the expectations placed on an Olympic champion, something she struggled with in a disappointing World Championships in Rome in 2009.

"I just let the pressure get to me," reflected Adlington.

"It was the first major meet after Beijing and everybody was saying 'oh, she'll win two gold medals again', but I wasn't ready for that level of expectation. I was only 20 and it was a big shock.

"Now I have learnt to deal with it and most of the pressure comes from myself. I've worked with a psychologist and that has really helped because he is someone separate from the sport and who puts things into perspective."

Adlington's improvement in form began to show last year, where she claimed titles at the European Championships and the Commonwealth Games.

However, it is this year's performances which have given her the greatest cause for optimism and she says she is now "more motivated that ever" to achieve her potential.

"Obviously last year was great experience and it's always nice to win medals, but it wasn't against the whole of the world," said Adlington.

"The World Championships are the next best thing to an Olympics and it gives me a great idea of where I am compared to the rest of the swimmers right now."

Should Adlington, as expected, qualify for the 2012 Games then she is almost certain to take time away from swimming following its conclusion.

"After Beijing I wanted to enjoy all of the opportunities that came my way and I tried to balance that with training, but it didn't work because you can't do both," she said.

"So, I will go away, have a little fun, be normal for once and then see if I miss swimming.

"If I don't feel like I can improve or don't love the sport any more then I could retire, but at the minute I absolutely love it and I don't want it to end."

Elena Baltacha defeated in second round in California

British number one Elena Baltacha crashed out of the Mercury Insurance Open, defeated with ease by Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska.

Baltacha was beaten 6-0 7-6 (7-4) in her second round match against the world number 13.

The 27-year-old recovered in the second set by breaking Radwanska but was eventually overpowered.

The match was the only second-round tie to be completed on Tuesday.

In the first round, three seeds fell with number 10 Flavia Pennetta squandering a lead to fall 1-6 6-2 6-2 to fellow Italian Alberta Brianti.

Thirteenth seed Jarmila Gajdosova rarely put up a fight in going down 6-3 6-2 to Russian Alla Kudryavtseva, while number 14 seed Elena Vesnina surrendered 6-1 6-2 against qualifier Marina Erakovic.

The three other seeds in action all progressed with number 11 Maria Kirilenko topping Rebecca Marino 6-3 6-2, 12th seed Sabine Lisicki breezing past Greta Arn 6-0 6-2 and number 15 Sara Errani seeing off Sania Mirza 6-2 6-3.

Wildcard Sloane Stephens made it to the second round with a 6-4 6-2 win over Shuai Zhang, while Tamira Paszek rallied to beat Simona Halep 0-6 6-4 7-5 while Barbora Zahlavova Strycova was a 6-4 1-6 7-5 winner over Chanelle Scheepers.

Kimiko Date-Krumm beat Gisela Dulko 7-5 6-0, Anastasia Rodionova battled past Olga Govortsova 7-6 (7-4) 2-6 6-3 and Ayumi Morita beat Jelena Dokic 6-1 4-6 7-5.

India's Harbhajan and Yuvraj out of England Test series

India have suffered a blow ahead of the third Test against England with confirmation that Yuvraj Singh and Harbhajan Singh will miss the rest of the four-match series through injury.

Spinner Harbhajan has a stomach strain and batsman Yuvraj has a broken finger.

Both were sustained in the second Test at Trent Bridge, which England won with ease to take a 2-0 lead in the series.

Right-handed batsman Virat Kohli will replace Yuvraj, and left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha comes in for Harbhajan.

Harbhajan was largely ineffective at Nottingham in a match dominated by seamers and batsmen.

But it turned out the world's leading active Test wicket-taker, with 406 victims, was bowling through the pain of what has since been diagnosed as a grade one lower abdominal tear, which will prevent him playing for the next three weeks.

"While Yuvraj Singh's injury may take around four weeks to recover, Harbhajan Singh is likely to recover in three weeks' time," said the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

Both players may miss some of the one-day international series against England.

India are still hoping Zaheer Khan, who was able to run without apparent discomfort in training shortly after the end of the match in Nottingham, will be able to return from his hamstring injury to lead the attack again in the third Test at Edgbaston in Birmingham, which starts next Wednesday.

Opening batsman Virender Sehwag was finally due to arrive in England on Wednesday after shoulder surgery.

He is likely to be important for the tourists as they try to rescue a series in which they will lose their status as the world's top Test team, to England, should they lose by two clear matches.

Gautam Gambhir also missed the second Test at Trent Bridge because the elbow injury he suffered in the first Test at Lord's had failed to recover - India also hope the opener may be fit again soon.

Jade Jones wins World Championship silver medal

Britain's Jade Jones has won a silver medal at the Taekwondo World Championships in Gyeongju, South Korea.

The 18-year-old Flint fighter's success came in the -57kg category only 24-hours after Sarah Stevenson took gold.

Youth Olympic champion Jones has dazzled since stepping up to the senior scene this year, winning three medals in her first two Open events.

However, after leading 5-4 against Yuzhuo Hou of China, she was forced into a sudden-death round.

"I'm disappointed with how close it [the final] was, it's just horrible," Jones told BBC Sport.

"But 2010 was amazing, winning the Youth Olympics and I didn't think it could get any better, but I'm buzzing with how well it's gone."

The teenager's talent was emphasised in the semi-finals.

Jones found herself 6-2 down to 2008 European Championship medallist Marlenee Harnois of France, with only one round to go, but fought back to level at 7-7, before progressing in sudden-death.

"I knew I had the talent [to get a medal], but the World Championships is so hard and in the past we haven't been great, but as a team were getting much stronger."

Many of the British team now face an anxious wait to discover whether their weight division will be one of the four that British Taekwondo selects for next year's Olympic Games.

A decision is due to made on 11 May.

"I just wanted to go out and do my everything and then if my weight didn't get picked, at least then I've given my all," stated Jones.

"Now I've just got to hope that's enough, so fingers crossed that my weight gets selected and then I can train harder and get bigger and better."

Jones' achievements drew considerable praise from day three's World Championship gold medallist Sarah Stevenson.

The 28-year-old said that while she isn't ready to leave the sport just yet, she knows that when she does, British Taekwondo will be left in safe hands.

"Jade has been absolutely amazing, not only during this championships but throughout the last couple of years," said Stevenson.

"She reminds me of myself in a way and I know what she's going through because I've been there myself and it really hurts to come so close [to gold], but when she looks back on this in a couple of days' time I'm sure she'll realise how well she's done."

"We're all so proud of her," concluded Stevenson.

Martin Stamper was another Brit hoping to better the bronze he secured with victory in Tuesday's quarter-finals, but he was up against Olympic bronze medallist Servet Tazegul of Turkey.

The Liverpudlian had beaten his opponent to win the German Open title in March, but Stamper struggled throughout this encounter, falling behind early on before eventually succumbing to Tazegul's power 15-2.

The Turk went on to take the title with a thrilling 9-8 victory over defending champion Mohammad Motamed Bagheri of Iran.

"I knew it was going to be hard as he's such a skilled fighter and perhaps it's difficult to be happy when you've just lost, but a bronze is a good result and hopefully I've given my weight-division a good chance of being selected [for the Olympics]," Stamper told BBC Sport.

Jones's and Stamper's successes combined with Stevenson's gold, mean the 2011 tournament is Great Britain's most successful Taekwondo World Championship