After the embarrassment of their English summer, this was a welcome sight for Pakistan. A contest in front of their own, no Ollie Robinson to wobble down a lethal Dukes, and a format they are far more comfortable with. The result was an impressive victory in Rawalpindi against England, who fell 87 runs short in their first match of this one-day international tri-series.
At the centre was Arafat Minhas, playing in only his fifth ODI but already making a serious splash, finishing with astounding figures of six for 40. And he can bat too. The 21-year-old began with a half-century from No 7, resuscitating Pakistan’s innings alongside another newcomer, Hasan Nawaz, as 81 for four turned into a total of 302.
Minhas’s left-arm spin was up next, accounting for Harry Brook with a magical delivery as England crumbled in reply, a decent position of 165 for three becoming 215 all out. Fittingly, Minhas was the closer, showing off another skill: a direct hit to run out Gus Atkinson ended the game with 11.2 overs unused.
England have powered their way to 350-plus totals in three series deciders this year, but all of those were in the first innings, with work needed on how to handle the chase. Brook lamented his side’s batting against spin. “We were probably a little bit too careful against the spinners,” he said, arguing that Pakistan’s total was under par. “We can probably put them under more pressure in stages.”
Nawaz performed the day’s first rescue act after a lethargic start by Pakistan with the bat. Fakhar Zaman clipped the first ball of the innings to midwicket, and while the ball pinged off Babar Azam’s middle against the quicks, the early introduction of Will Jacks’ off-spin stripped away the flow. He fell innocuously, bowled by Jacks for 34 while playing off the back foot.
Salman Agha continued his bizarre story arc over the last two months. A fill-in captain for the Headingley Test in August, Agha was dropped from Pakistan’s lineup for the second Test and then discarded from the squad for the third. He returned home to hit a triple hundred in first-class cricket, lost the captaincy of Pakistan’s T20 team, then struck a match-winning ton against Sri Lanka on Sunday in the tri-series opener. A confident start here was quickly followed by a strange dismissal, sweeping a full toss by Adil Rashid into Atkinson’s hands.
Pakistan needed a shake. Nawaz immediately welcomed Rashid’s flight, sending the ball down the ground for six, his first of three against the veteran leg-spinner. The 24-year-old has plenty of power on him, and he built valuable stands with Saad Baig and Minhas to make up for the failings at the top. Nawaz, dropped on 28 by Atkinson, closed his bashing on 79, the economical Jamie Overton surprising him with an 87mph yorker.
Minhas was less brutal than Nawaz but led Pakistan’s final push with 59 off 58, and Faheem Ashraf powered up with a 26-ball 39, with 91 coming off the last 10 overs, four off the final ball to push past 300.
With the injured Jacob Bethell missing this series, Tom Banton has another run of games to complicate the question over England’s opening pair. He put on 91 for the first wicket with Ben Duckett and went to a half-century, but the dream of back-to-back ODI tons closed on 57 when he slapped Minhas to midwicket in the 19th over.
Something special was required for Brook, five of his 15 international hundreds having come against Pakistan. Minhas provided it with Brook on five, a fizzing delivery with enough turn there to knock back off stump.
Pakistan lacked any real pace with the ball against England in the recent Test series, but Haris Rauf and Naseem Shah were missing then. Rauf’s short ball prompted fatal mistakes from Duckett and Sam Curran, while Naseem skidded one through the defence of a well-set Joe Root.
But this was Minhas’s night. While Jordan Cox was undone by another fine delivery for a leg-before, Overton gifted a simple catch to long-on. Jacks, developing his reputation as a finisher, remained, the game still alive while he stuck it out. But he found midwicket – a familiar dismissal on the day – and Minhas trapped Rashid in front moments later. Pakistan have found one.
