Arafat Minhas' dream outing crushes England
After rescuing Pakistan with the bat, Minhas produced a stunning show with the ball to pick up six wickets
A dream outing from Pakistan's Arafat Minhas crushed England in their first game of the tri-series in Rawalpindi. Minhas came out to bat at a critical juncture during the Pakistan innings to power them to 302 before ripping through the England lineup to pick up a six-wicket haul that gave the home side a dominant 87-run win.
Batting first, Pakistan put up a commendable effort to claw their way back despite losing half their side with just 133 on the board. The finishing trio of Hasan Nawaz, Minhas and Faheem Ashraf turned the tide and helped the hosts breach 300 to finish on a high. Any score closer to that looked like a distant dream when Fakhar Zaman flicked the first ball of the contest straight to short midwicket. While Babar Azam got off to an exquisite start with a flurry of boundaries, Saim Ayub departed for just 8 after top edging a shortish delivery from Sonny Baker. Babar then went into a shell and eventually got castled by Will Jacks to put Pakistan in further trouble.
England then took complete control of the contest when Salman Agha, centurion from the first game, got a top edge while attempting a slog sweep that reduced Pakistan to 81/4. Nawaz then walked out and hammered his first ball for a six to send a statement before rebuilding alongside Saad Baig. Nawaz continued to bat in a positive fashion but against the run of play, Pakistan suffered another blow as Gus Atkinson came back into the attack to remove Baig. One more wicket at that stage could have been curtains for the hosts but instead, they thrived on the back of an excellent 78-run partnership. Nawaz smashed two sixes in the space of three balls before bringing up his fifty.
Minhas then took on Sam Curran for three fours in an over to get going as Pakistan gained momentum heading into the slog overs. However, an excellent yorker from Jamie Overton ended Nawaz's heroics, leaving Pakistan searching for another partnership. Minhas found support from Ashraf as the duo went on a boundary-hitting spree to put England under pressure at the death. Minhas finally departed after bringing up his maiden ODI fifty via a hat-trick of boundaries. With two overs left, Pakistan lost Ashraf as well before Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf dragged the total beyond 300.
While only 9 runs came from the first three overs of the chase, England's openers then took little time to put Pakistan on the backfoot. A target of 303 appeared to be timid at one point when Tom Banton slammed Naseem Shah for a couple of sixes and a four in the same over to bring up the fifty partnership. The assault continued even after the Powerplay came to an end as England raced to 80/0 after just 12 overs. Rauf then provided the breakthrough that Pakistan were desperately looking for when he sent Duckett packing for 45.
Minhas then got the well-set Banton which eventually proved to be the dismissal that triggered a collapse. Minhas castled Harry Brook with a top delivery to put England on the backfoot and even though the visitors steadied the ship for a brief period via a vital partnership between Joe Root and Sam Curran, Pakistan eventually found a way. Naseem came back into the attack to shatter Root's stumps and Curran miscued a pull to depart at a crucial juncture. While Pakistan found saviours from their lower middle order, England caved in. The final five wickets managed to add just 38 runs to England's tally as Minhas ran riot with the ball to finish with a six-fer that delivered a comprehensive win.
Brief scores: Pakistan 302/9 in 50 overs (Hasan Nawaz 79, Arafat Minhas 59; Sonny Baker 3-65) beat England 215 in 38.4 overs (Tom Banton 57, Ben Duckett 45; Arafat Minhas 6-40) by 87 runs
