Champions Trophy 2017 Semi-Final 1: Pakistan Beat England To Reach Finals
Highlights:
- Pakistan defeated England by 8 wickets in Cardiff
- Pakistan went to the final with this win
- The final will be played on Sunday at 3 pm IST
Pakistan shocked hosts England as they beat the comprehensively by 8 wickets to reach the final of the Champions Trophy. A magnificent bowling performance saw the Pakistani bowling unit limit the mighty English team to only 211 runs which were comfortably chased down by their batsman. The highly unpredictable Pakistan side toppled the tournament favorites to knock them out of the tournament.
Pakistan opted to bowl first after winning the toss which was regarded as a wrong decision by many as the pitch was expected to deteriorate after the first innings. England got stuck in the middle period after starting well, was well set at 100 for 2 but lost their way in the middle period. The Pakistani pacers were on fire despite the absence of Mohammad Amir. Hasan Ali has been a revelation as he picked by 3 wickets for the third time in a row to wreck havoc throughout the English batting with some ferocious pace bowling. Joe Root put in a gritty performance (46) as he looked to hold the batting together. A relentless Pakistani side bowled extremely well and put in their best fielding performance of the tournament to ensure that the English batting line-up was unable to stitch together any meaningful partnership during their innings. A pumped up Pakistani side limited the English team to a meager 211 runs.
On what seemed to be a trickier wicket than expected, the England bowling unit looked set to make the most of the situations and trouble the Pakistan batting line-up. Pakistan openers Fakhar Zaman (57 off 58) and Azhar Ali (76 off 100) played brilliantly for Pakistan to ensure that they were in command throughout the match and cruised past England to defeat them by 8 wickets.
Hasan Ali was given the man of the match award for another superb bowling performance of 3-35.
Pakistan skipper, Sarfraz Ahmed credited his bowlers for doing the job. Lauded Rumman Raees for filling in the shoes of Amir and thanked the team management for backing them after a disappointing loss against India.
England skipper, Eoin Morgan says they did not adapt to the conditions coming from Edgbaston and credited Pakistan for doing so and outclassing them. Admits they did not manage to adjust to the wicket and feels 200 wasn’t a competitive one.
Even by Pakistan’s standards, that was quite an astonishing performance. They now wait the winner of the semi-final ofIndia-Bangladesh who they will play in the final on 18 June, Sunday.
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