England on Thursday defeated Pakistani by nine wickets with 28.1 overs to spare in the first One Day International of the series. Saqib Mahmood was the star of the match.
Batting first, Pakistan could only manage 141 all out as Saqib Mahmood wreaked havoc with his pace attack. He finished with 4-42 in 10 overs.
Fakhar Zaman was the top scorer for his side with 47 runs.
England achieved the target by losing just one wicket in 21.5 overs. Dawid Malan remained not out at 68, while Zak Crawley, who scored a fifty on his debut, remained unbeaten at 58.
Malan’s half-century included seven boundaries and came off 50 balls. This was his second in ODI cricket while playing just his fourth game. He made exactly 50 in his last ODI in Pune in March this year.
Former England captain Michael Vaughan tweeted, “Love watching Pakistan play Cricket … A team that can beat any team in the world on any given day but also lose to any team on any given day.”
Five players namely Zak Crawley, Brydon Carse, Lewis Gregory, Philip Salt and John Simpson made their debut for England in the match due to COVID-19 outbreak with Ben Stokes captaining the side.
