England won the toss and put Pakistan to bat. Pakistan made a cagey start as they were 49-0 in the powerplay. At the halfway mark they were 80-0, and after that, they started taking on the bowling. After the initial struggle, Babar Azam looked as fluent as he is and Rizwan, unleashing his shot. One of the flat sixes that he struck was arguably the shot of the match.
Pakistan lost their first wicket in Rizwan at 150, and whoever walked in started striking from the 1st ball. Maqsood made 19 off 7, Fakhar Zaman 26 off 8, and Hafeez 24 off 10. After 20 overs, Pakistan was 231 and asked England to chase 232. Trent Bridge with short boundaries and flat wickets, England was always in the game as Roy started striking from the ball 1.
Malan once again fell cheaply for 1, and Baristow, after smacking a huge six, got out on 11. Moen Ali, too, couldn’t do much as he got out on 1. The whole complexion of the match changed after Livingstone came out to bat. He struck 9 huge sixes in his knock of 103 and kept the hopes of England alive. He kept searching for the partners before he finally perished when the score was 183.
The match was done and dusted there as Wiley took a few over the ropes, but the match was already done. Pakistan left ODI woes behind and was quite active on the field. They held on to almost all the chances that came their way. Shadab also affected a brilliant run-out England had no answers to Shaheen Shah’s change of pace and Yorkers.
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He was the pick of the bowlers for Pakistan as he took 3 for 30, and in a match where many batsmen scored piles of runs, Shaheen Shah Afridi bagged the Man of the Match award. The next encounter is on Sunday at Edgbaston, and conditions will be quite different there. England is playing there full strength in batting and will be looking to come hard at the visitors. Sunday will be a super Sunday as there are quite a few matches on Sunday.
