Pakistan put in a superb all-round performance as they defeated England by eight wickets, to qualify for the ICC Champions Trophy final.
Here’s what we learned from the match.
DEBUTANTS HAVE ADDED FRESH ENERGY FOR PAKISTAN
Pakistan found themselves short on experience when key batsman Umar Akmal was sent home due to fitness issues and fast bowler Wahab Riaz was ruled out after the India game with an ankle injury.
It meant they were forced to rely on a few debutants to see them through the tournament. And boy, haven’t they been brilliant.
Be it opener Fakhar Zaman or fast bowlers Rumman Raees and Faheem Ashraf, all have justified their inclusion, and have been key to Pakistan’s dream run into the final.
Zaman has hit 138 runs in three games and has got the best strike rate (117.94) among all Pakistan batsmen. The 27-year-old left-handed batsman has grown in strength with every match as his scores of 31, 50 and 57 suggest.
He has also plugged a big loophole at the top as his 118-run partnership with Azhar Ali against England was Pakistan’s first century stand in 35 one-day internationals in two years for the first wicket.
Somewhat similar has been the tale of the two pacers. The 23-year-old Ashraf did an admirable job against Sri Lanka when he was included in place of young leg-spinner Shadab Khan by claiming two wickets for 37 runs in 6.2 overs.
Raees had bigger shoes to fill when he stepped in for Mohammad Amir after the latter pulled out with back spasm on Wednesday morning. The 25-year-old left-arm pacer from Karachi hit the right areas and impressed with his slower deliveries to log bowling figures of 2-44 from nine overs in his first ODI.
Since the defeat to India, these new additions to Pakistan have not only infused fresh energy into the team but also brought good tidings.
ENGLAND BATSMEN’S TENTATIVE APPROACH HURT THEM
There was no doubt that this game would be between the Pakistan bowlers and English batsmen. But with Pakistan’s pace spearhead Mohammad Amir ruled out because of back spasm, England were handed a huge bonus.
Now it was upto the English batsmen to build upon this advantage but they wasted it with a tentative approach and had to be content with their lowest total in this year’s tournament.
Agreed, the variety in Pakistan’s bowling made it difficult to score runs but England’s batting was well-equipped to deal with it. Somebody had to play a long innings, a sheet anchor’s role to keep the Pakistan bowlers at bay.
Joe Root and Eoin Morgan looked like taking on that challenge but the frustration of not being able to score runs quickly got to them and they perished playing rash shots. It also exposed their ploy of having too many power-hitters in the line-up.
Barring Root, there is nobody who has a solid defence, like the old-fashioned Test-match types, because in such situations they are gold dust. Also, apart from Jonny Bairstow, none of the batsmen were successful in breaking the shackles.
Even Ben Stokes hung around for 64 balls for his 34 without hitting a single boundary. With the big-hitters faltering, it was all uphill for England.
Joe Root walks back after his dismissal [Getty Images]
SPINNERS STIFLE MORGAN AND CO.
The scoreboard will credit the pacers, led by the brilliant Hasan Ali, as having caused the biggest damage to England by claiming seven wickets but the spinners also played a key role.
Together, the three spinners — Imad Wasim, Shadab Khan and Mohammad Hafeez — bowled 22 overs conceding just 89 runs and took one wicket, an important one at that, of Root.
What it meant was that for nearly half the innings, England – who love to play attacking cricket with their big-hitters – could only score at four an over. It allowed Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed the luxury of setting attacking fields for his pace bowlers, who responded in a rousing fashion, with their reverse swing troubling the batsmen further.
Knowing England’s weakness against spin, it was smart captaincy by Sarfraz who introduced his slow bowlers as early as the seventh over. The Welsh-born left-arm spinner Imad troubled Root the most with his quick-ish deliveries before leg-spinner Shadab and off-spinner Hafeez took turns to choke the flow of runs and dent England’s hopes.
THE HOSTS’ BOWLING FLOUNDERS
England bowlers knew what to expect from the Cardiff track as they had played a game earlier on the same ground and had done exceedingly well to defend 310 runs and thrash New Zealand by 87 runs.
On Wednesday, the challenge was stiffer as they had a much lesser total to defend, so they were expected to come out all guns firing against a Pakistan batting line-up that had been wobbly throughout the tournament. But once a top edge of Fakhar Zaman’s bat off a Mark Wood bouncer soared behind the wicketkeeper for a six off the fourth ball of the innings, England’s hopes of an early breakthrough were dashed.
Zaman’s bravado caught the bowling off-guard as they lacked the ideas or discipline to curtail that onslaught. Apart from a testing Wood over that troubled Azhar Ali, the England bowlers did not have much of an effect on the Pakistan batsmen who maintained a run-rate of over five throughout.
It was as if the two innings were played on different pitches with the Pakistan bowlers all fire and brimstone while the England bowlers were all over the place. It’s evident in the fact that England hit 15 fours, only three in their last 15 overs, with no sixes whereas Pakistan smashed 17 fours and five sixes in just 37.1 overs.