Ruthless Pakistan overwhelm shell-shocked England, in final
ONESIDED Pakistan pacers produce a superb bowling effort and smash the required runs with 12.5 overs to spare
Pakistan delivered an inspired all-round performance to rout a ragged England team by eight wickets in a one-sided Champions Trophy semifinal on Wednesday. Pakistan bowled and fielded tightly to restrict the hosts to a paltry total of 211 all out and the lowest-ranked team in the tournament knocked off the runs in style with a massive 12.5 overs to spare.
It was a major disappointment for England, who won all three group matches in their bid to claim a first global 50-over title and had beaten Pakistan in 12 of their last 14 one-day internationals. They collapsed, however, on a sluggish pitch from 128 for two in sunny conditions which normally favour batsmen and the bowlers failed to repair the damage as Fakhar Zaman and Azhar Ali shared a stand of 118 to lead Pakistan to their target.
“One thing we didn’t do was adapt to conditions, which I thought Pakistan did extremely well,” England captain Eoin Morgan said. “Full credit to them, they outplayed us on this wicket. 211 wasn’t a good score. 250/270 would have been.”
Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed won the toss and England openers Alex Hales and Jonny Bairstow, replacing the out-ofform Jason Roy, made a solid enough start. Hitting boundaries proved difficult, however, and a clearly frustrated Hales, on 13, spooned Rumman Raees to cover with a loose drive.
Bairstow, dropped twice, accumulated 43 runs through good shot placement and quick running between the wickets before he pulled seamer Hasan Ali to Mohammad Hafeez at deep square leg. Joe Root and Morgan continued to score at about five runs an over but Root, on 46, nicked leg-spinner Shadab Khan to wicketkeeper Sarfraz and Morgan (33) aimed an expansive drive at the lively Hasan and gave Sarfraz another catch to leave England in trouble at 141 for four.
Jos Buttler (4), Moeen Ali (11) and Adil Rashid (7) fell quickly and Ben Stokes failed to hit a boundary in a scratchy 34.
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