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.
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