Fakhar Zaman's catch and other turning points from Pakistan's win over England

Jaideep Marar 23:59 14/06/2017
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  • Contrasting emotions: Shadab Khan and Joe Root [Getty Images]

    ROOT’S DISMISSAL

    England were shaping up well at the halfway stage of their innings scoring 118 runs for the loss of two wickets. It was also a period when the Pakistan spinners were in operation and runs were not coming at the pace as expected by England.

    They were getting the odd boundary but the ones and twos were in short supply.

    Joe Root, who had maintained a tight vigil for the most part of his innings tried to cut a shortish delivery from Shadab Khan but it bounced a bit more to take a faint edge on the way to Sarfraz Ahmed’s gloves.

    It was a hammer blow for England as they lost their next seven wickets for the addition of just 83 runs.

    ZAMAN’S CATCH

    Pakistan have shown a remarkable improvement in their fielding since the India match. They have flung themselves to stop boundaries and plucked some superb catches.

    Top on that list has to be the catch of Fakhar Zaman, who sprinted from deep mid-wicket to his left and fully stretched himself to snaffle a Moeen Ali pull off Junaid Khan. It summed up Pakistan’s day in the field and also snuffed out all hopes of an England fightback.

    Moeen, who has two ODI centuries under his belt, could have got England back into the game had he stayed longer but his dismissal in the 39th over only brought despair to the hosts.

    STOKES’ POOR BOWLING

    With England failing to get any wicket in the first 10 overs, captain Eoin Morgan turned to his talisman Ben Stokes in the hope of breaking the opening partnership between Fakhar Zaman and Azhar Ali.

    Stokes, however, came a cropper as he lacked the discipline to make any impact and gave away 19 runs in his two overs at a crucial stage. The runs helped Zaman and Ali gain confidence as they went on to put up a century stand and shut out England completely from the game.

    When the all-rounder was brought back into the attack he fared even worse giving away 15 runs with Mohammad Hafeez clubbing a six over long-on and Babar Azam driving a half-volley to the cover fence.

    Stokes ended up conceding 38 runs in 3.1 overs and was the most expensive bowler in the match.

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