Champions Trophy: Pakistan punish errant England to enter maiden CT final

Pakistans Mohammad Hafeez L and Pakistans Babar Azam celebrate after winning the ICC Champions Trophy semifinal cricket match between England and Pakistan in Cardiff on June 14 2017 Set just 212 for victory Pakistan finished on 215 for two with Azhar Ali 76 and Fakhar Zaman 57 sharing an opening partnership of 118 PicAFPCardiffAn unpredictable Pakistan on Wednesday stunned England by eight wickets to enter their maidenChampions Trophy final continuing their sensational run inthe tournamentPakistani bowlers produced another professional performance to restrict the formidable England batting lineupto 211 after Sarfraz Ahmed opted to bowl on a used surfaceThe star with the ball was once again pacer Hasan Ali who ended up with a three wickethaul for the third time in asmany gamesIt seemed Pakistani batsmen were batting on a different pitch during the chase as they cruised to complete the targetin 371 overs after openers Azhar Ali 76 off 100 and FakharZaman 57 off 58 provided a perfect start The duo shared an 118runs stand off 127 balls ensuring Pakistan gets home comfortablyThe remarkable result also made a mockery of pretournament talk and predictions as the eighthranked Pakistanpummeled title favourites England to reach the final at TheOval on SundayPakistan surprised many by bouncing back brilliantly from their heavy loss against India in the tournament opener tobeat South Africa and Sri Lanaka enroute to the last fourThey have always been an unpredictable side but England the only undefeated in the league stage were expected to getpast the subcontinent squad with little difficultyThe same England batsmen who batted with flair and finesse through the tournament came a cropper in a high stake semifinal They found it hard to keep the scoreboard tickingand losing wickets at regular intervals made life tougher forthem Not a single six was hit in their inningsPakistan on the contrary came out for the chase with a planAli batted solidly while Zaman attacked from ball one despite being tested with a lot of short ballsZaman playing only his third ODI went for the big shotsand even though he mishit a lot of them kept on playing inthe same vein The southpaw ended hitting seven fours and asix that came off a top edge over the wicketkeeperThanks to openers first hundred stand of the tournament the inconsistent Pakistan middler order was not tested muchNumber three Babar Azam played sensibly for his unbeaten38 off 45 balls and so did Mohammad Hafeez 31 off 21 whohit the winning boundary to spark wild celebrationsEarlier Pakistan seamers dished out a superb bowling effort to finish the England innings in 495overs at the Sophia GardensBesides Ali 335 the other bowlers who impressed wereJunaid Khan 242 and debutant Rumman Raees 244 Young spinner Shadab Khan 140 scalped one wicket while Imad Wasim 016 and Mohammad Hafeez 033 also bowled wellEngland rode on useful contributions from toporder batsmen Joe Root 46 Jonny Bairstow 43 and captain EoinMorgan 33 but they kept losing wicket at regular intervals due to sustained pressure created by PakistanbowlersIn the end Ben Stokes who played an unusual knock of 34off 64 balls helped England cross the 200run markEngland were dealt an early blow when Hales was sent backby Raees with Babar Azam taking the catch in the sixth over Bairstow who was brought in the playing XI in place of Jason Roy and Root helped England reach fifty in 94 oversHowever Bairstow topedged one off Ali and Hafeez took an easy catch at deep square leg leaving Englandat 80 for twoSkipper Morgan then joined Root and the duo batted withpurpose to bring up the hundred in 214 overs The 48run stand for the third wicket was broken by 18yearold spinner Shadab Khan in the 28th overLooking to cut the ball Root nicked it to wicketkeeper Sarfraz as England were reduced to 128 for threeMorgan too perished in the 32nd over while looking tobelt it down the ground he ended up giving a simple catch tothe keeperSeamer Junaid Khan then struck successive blows dismissing Jos Butler 4 and Moeen Ali 11 in the 35th and 39th over respectively as England slumped to 162 for sixAdil Rashid was back in the hut after a direct hit fromsubstitute Ahmed Shehzad at the nonstrikers end