Pakistan 302 for 9 (Nawaz 79, Minhas 59, Baker 3-65) beat England 215 (Banton 57, Minhas 6-40) by 87 runs
Arafat Minhas delivered a magnificent, career-defining all-round performance to propel Pakistan to back-to-back victories at the start of their ODI tri-series campaign in Rawalpindi. Following an impressive opening win over Sri Lanka, Pakistan produced a much more emphatic display to dismantle England by 87 runs, thanks largely to a stellar contribution from their young star.
Minhas first made his presence felt with a composed 59 off 58 balls, combining effectively with top-scorer Hasan Nawaz to rebuild Pakistan’s innings on his way to a total of 302 for 9. Not content with his exploits with the bat, the left-arm spinner then wreaked havoc during the run chase, having a direct hand in seven of England’s dismissals as the tourists were bowled out for 215 with 11.2 overs remaining.
Fresh from scoring his maiden international half-century, Minhas claimed career-best bowling figures of 6 for 40. In doing so, he became only the third Pakistani cricketer in history to score a fifty and take a five-wicket haul in the same One-Day International. He fittingly brought the curtain down on an undulating encounter with a brilliant run-out, dismissing a sprawling Gus Atkinson as the final act of the match.
The comprehensive defeat will likely cause some reflection for England captain Harry Brook and head coach Brendon McCullum, whose optimism following an encouraging run of six victories from their previous nine matches has been temporarily reined in. Brook had earlier won the toss and elected to bowl first under the lights in Rawalpindi, operating on the tactical assumption that dew would alter conditions and favor England during the second half of the game.
Minhas, however, had entirely different plans. Pakistan’s innings had initially stuttered before a crucial fifth-wicket partnership of 78 runs between Minhas and Nawaz breathed vital life into the home side’s total. Minhas then continued his aggressive momentum alongside Faheem Ashraf, adding a quickfire 72 runs off just 49 deliveries.
England’s bowlers certainly aided Pakistan’s cause through untidy fielding and missed opportunities, failing to maintain pressure after reducing their opponents to a precarious 81 for 4 in the 19th over. Nawaz was given an early life when he was dropped by Atkinson on 28—an easy, tumbling chance at backward square leg following a tame lap shot off the bowling of Will Jacks. Minhas endured an even more fortunate reprieve, being put down three times during his innings, with the costliest mistake occurring when he was on just 12.
Returning to international action after recovering from a groin injury, Sam Curran induced a low edge from Minhas, but wicketkeeper Jordan Cox was unable to cling on with a desperate one-handed dive to his left. Minhas was eventually dismissed by Sonny Baker, who returned impressive figures of 3 for 65.
Atkinson’s face ending up in the dirt for the game’s final run-out felt a world away from the very first delivery of the match. Fakhar Zaman had clipped Atkinson’s opening ball straight to Joe Root at mid-wicket, and Pakistan were quickly in trouble at 31 for 2 when Saim Ayub fell to a short ball from Baker, comfortably pouched at backward square leg by Curran.
Babar Azam struggled against the disciplined bowling of Will Jacks, appearing unable to read the modest turn generated by the off-spinner. Having been beaten repeatedly on the outside edge, Babar managed to use the pace of the other bowlers to tick the scoreboard over to 34. However, an attempt to work a delivery off the back foot left a noticeable gap between bat and pad, and the ball skidded through to rattle the off stump. It was a deserved reward for Jacks, who successfully stifled Pakistan’s scoring rate despite having only two fielders outside the inner circle when introduced as the first change bowler after six overs.
Pakistan’s batsmen only truly began to break the shackles when leg-spinner Adil Rashid was brought into the attack after missing the recent home series against Sri Lanka due to a hand injury. Salman Agha signaled a shift in intent by greeting Rashid’s very first delivery with a swift charge down the pitch, launching the ball cleanly over the cover boundary.
Unlike two days prior, when he compiled a magnificent 107 against Sri Lanka, Salman could not kick on. He was dismissed for a tame 16 after sweeping a low full toss straight to Atkinson at a wide fine leg. That dismissal brought Nawaz to the crease, who immediately announced himself by launching Rashid’s first ball straight back down the ground for a maximum. Nawaz ultimately accounted for four of Pakistan’s five sixes during an enterprising, intelligent 74-ball stay at the crease.
A 52-run partnership with Said Baig provided a much-needed pillar of stability for the innings. Although the 19-year-old Baig became the second top-four batsman to fall to a short-pitched delivery—this time caught off Atkinson—Nawaz remained firmly in his groove. A delicate late cut midway through the 32nd over yielded his seventh boundary and brought up his half-century off 46 deliveries.
After an express 87 mph yorker from Jamie Overton crashed into the base of Nawaz’s stumps, Ashraf picked up the mantle, striking back-to-back boundaries off Jacks and Rashid. Even though Ashraf clearly signaled his intention to attack spin down the ground, Brook opted to introduce Root for the 46th over, which leaked 12 runs, including a fierce slap over wide long-on by the left-handed all-rounder.
Before Minhas reached his fifty from 53 deliveries with a glorious cover drive off Baker, he survived consecutive let-offs off Curran’s bowling. A top-edge on 42 was miscued towards a back-pedaling Cox, only for the ball to slip out of his one-handed grasp. The very next delivery, with Minhas on 44, saw a botched relay catch on the long-on boundary when Tom Banton under-armed the ball wastefully over the head of Ben Duckett.
Two more well-timed boundaries through and over extra cover followed before Baker adjusted his length, bowled straighter, and forced an uppish shot that nestled safely into the hands of Brook at mid-off. Curran finally registered a wicket at the fourth attempt when Ashraf picked out deep mid-wicket, and Baker soon added the scalp of Naseem Shah, caught at long-on for his third wicket of the innings. Tail-ender Haris Rauf then muscled the final ball of the innings through mid-wicket to push Pakistan comfortably past the 300-run mark.
At the halfway stage, 302 appeared potentially under par, especially after Tom Banton and Ben Duckett successfully weathered early difficulties against the new ball to compile a partnership of 91 runs inside 15 overs. Banton shrugged off an array of early plays-and-misses against Shaheen Shah Afridi to smash 18 runs off Naseem’s fourth over alone—including clean sixes over fine leg and mid-wicket—to bring up England’s team fifty at the end of the eighth over.
When Duckett was bounced out by Rauf, England still possessed a solid foundation from which to launch their chase. Unfortunately for the visitors, Duckett became the first of five top-order batsmen to fall after making a promising start.
Banton followed shortly afterward for 57, slapping a short delivery from Minhas straight to mid-wicket when a boundary seemed easily attainable. There was no charitable reprieve from the left-arm spinner when he clean bowled Brook; the ball pitched on middle and turned sharply, beating the England captain’s back-foot defense to clip the off stump. With Minhas and Ayub operating in tandem, England’s scoring rate ground to a sudden halt, highlighted by the fact that Curran’s lofted six into the stands off Ayub at the end of the 26th over was the first boundary in a span of 48 balls.
With the required run rate still manageable, Root and Curran attempted to rotate the strike. However, the quick losses of both batsmen—Root bowled by Naseem and Curran becoming Rauf’s second victim after being caught by substitute fielder Ghazi Ghori at deep square leg—left the lower order facing a daunting task of scoring 127 runs from the remaining 111 deliveries.
Aside from a couple of late sixes shared between Jacks and Cox, England were never truly in contention. Two further wickets fell in the space of six balls, with Cox trapped lbw by a delivery that drifted and skidded on, and Overton holing out to long-on to thrust Minhas back into the spotlight.
Minhas duly applied the final finishing touches. Jacks cuffed a short-length delivery straight to Afridi at mid-wicket to hand the young spinner his second five-wicket haul in ODIs, and Adil Rashid was trapped lbw with the very next ball. Though Minhas narrowly missed out on a prized hat-trick, a precise direct hit following a mix-up between Baker and Atkinson fittingly capped off a truly extraordinary individual performance from a precocious talent who has firmly announced his arrival on the international stage.
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