A balanced effort by Pakistani batsmen and a brilliant spell of death bowling by ‘comeback kid’ Wahab Riaz helped Pakistan register an upset 14-run win over England in their crucial World Cup 2019 encounter at Trent Bridge in Nottingham on Monday.
After England won the toss and opted to field first, FakharZaman and Imamul Haq opened Pakistan’s innings whereas Chris Woakes and JofraArcher shared the new ball for the hosts.
Zaman and Imam, after failing in the defeat to West Indiesin the opening game, provided Pakistan with a solid start.
The southpaw duo’s strategy early on was to respect Archerand go after Woakes — a plan that worked out pretty well as the tourists were31-0 after 5 overs and 69-0 after 10.
Runs started to dry up after the introduction of off-spinnerMoeen Ali, who also got his side the breakthrough on the opening ball of the15th over. Zaman (36 off 40) was the one to go; he was out stumped. followingwhich Babar Azam joined Imam in the middle.
After the first 15 overs, the score stood at 85-1, with therun-rate a tad on the slower side but on the bright side, Pakistan still hadnine wickets in hand.
The next five overs did not see too much action as the twobatters seemed content on keeping their wickets. However, the need toaccelerate forced Imam to take some risk on the first ball of the 21st over.His gamble seemed to have paid off, only for Woakes to take a stunning divingcatch that he had no business taking. Imam (44 off 58) missed out on his maidenWorld Cup half century.
Jason Roy, however, returned the favour, dropping theeasiest of Mohammad Hafeez’s catches in the 25th over.
At the halfway mark, the Men in Green were 141-2 and oncourse to posting a decent total but would it be decent enough for the mightyhosts?
Azam revved up the scoring in the 27th over, plundering AdilRashid for 14 runs made up of three boundaries. In the next over he completedhis first World Cup 50. At the end of 30 overs, Pakistan were 176-2 and scoringat almost the rate of six an over.
At this point, Pakistan were going pretty strong and thatmade former England captain Michael Vaughan nervous.
Just when Azam seemed set for a big score, folks on Twitterjinxed it for him.
He was holed out at long-on on the bowling of Ali. Azamfinished with 63 off 66 balls laced with four boundaries and a six. CaptainSarfaraz Ahmed walked in.
Hafeez found two boundaries in the 34th over to quietlybring up his 50. Sarfaraz, meanwhile, hit a four on the final ball of the 35thover bowled by Ali.
With 15 overs left, Pakistan were 218-3 and targeting ascore around 350. Surprisingly, the Greenshirts did not enter slog mode in thenext five despite wickets in hand, instead opting to keep on picking theirspots where they could and going in a cautioned, systematic manner.
Hafeez’s brilliant 62-ball 84-run knock came to an end inthe 43 over, following which Asif Ali — just the man for the situation — walkedin.
But Ali could only hit one of his trademark sixes beforebeing caught in deep cover on the first ball of the 47th. The experiencedShoaib Malik walked in.
Sarfaraz (55 off 44) also completed his half century beforebeing dismissed in the 48th over when trying to play some big shots. Wahab Riazwas promoted up the order. He hit a boundary but was out the same over, bowledby Woakes.
In the end, Pakistani tail did enough to finish with 348-8in their allotted 50 overs. Archer, billed as the biggest threat to Pakistanibatters due to his pace and bounce, had an unforgettable outing. He finishedwicketless and gave away 79 runs in his quota of 10 overs.
Shadab Khan bowled the first over and was dispatched for twoboundaries by Jason Roy. The young legspinner, however, had the last laugh ashe trapped the English opener in front of the wickets on the first ball of the3rd over. The English also lost the review which further sweetened the blow.
Mohammad Amir was impressive in his first over, with hisfirst ball almost undoing Jonny Bairstow. The pacer was dispatched for a fouron the final ball though.
While Shadab had gotten the side the breakthrough, he wasproving to be a bit expensive, which is always a risk with leggies. In the 5thover, he was clobbered for a six by Bairstow.
Amir was unlucky in the 6th when he produced the edge fromJoe Root but the catch was put down by Babar Azam in the slip.
Wahab Riaz was brought into the attack and as expected hewas expensive in the over. But also, as expected, he picked up a wicket,forcing the dangerous Bairstow to nick one back to the keeper in the 9th over.
Eoin Morgan was the next man in, and he and Root made surethat their side went into the drinks break with no further setbacks. However,Hafeez struck right after the break, bowling out Morgan in the 15th over.
In the 22nd over, Ben Stokes (13) nicked one back to thekeeper as Pakistan tightened their grip on the match. However, Root and JosButtler kept England in the hunt and surely but steadily boosted the score to187-4 at the end of 30 overs.
The two masterfully dealt with whatever Pakistani bowlershurled at them, with Root also bringing up his ton. Their partnership ended inthe 39th over when Shadab struck again. He could have another had Sarfaraz notmissed a stumping chance of Moeen Ali in the 41st over.
Line-ups
Pakistan: Fakhar Zaman, Imamul-Haq, Babar Azam, MohammadHafeez, Sarfaraz Ahmed (capt&wk), Shoaib Malik, Asif Ali, Shadab Khan,Hasan Ali, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Amir
England: (Playing XI) Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root,Eoin Morgan(capt), Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler(wk), Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, JofraArcher, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood . Agencies