All-rounder Arafat Minhas hit 59 and took a career-best six for 40 as Pakistan beat England by 87 runs on Tuesday, making it two wins from two in the ODI tri-series.
Pakistan posted 302 for nine, then bowled England out for 215 with 11.2 overs unused. Minhas had a hand in seven dismissals, finishing with six wickets and a run-out.
His display made him only the third Pakistani to score an ODI fifty and take five wickets in the same match. Pakistan had earlier beaten Sri Lanka in their opening game.
England captain Harry Brook chose to bowl first, expecting dew to help his side later. Pakistan lost early wickets, though, with Fakhar Zaman and Saim Ayub gone by the 31-run mark.
Babar Azam made 34 before Will Jacks bowled him through the gap between bat and pad. Pakistan were 81 for four in the 19th over, but England let the advantage slip.
Hasan Nawaz, dropped on 28 by Gus Atkinson, rebuilt the innings with 79 off 74 balls. He hit four of Pakistan’s five sixes, including one first ball off Adil Rashid.
Nawaz and Minhas added 78 for the fifth wicket. Minhas then put on 72 off 49 balls with Faheem Ashraf, taking Pakistan beyond 300 as Haris Rauf struck the final delivery for a boundary.
Minhas was reprieved three times, the costliest miss coming on 12 when wicketkeeper Jordan Cox failed to hold a Sam Curran edge. He reached fifty off 53 balls before Sonny Baker removed him.
Baker finished with a best-ever 3 for 65. Curran, back from a groin injury, took two wickets after a frustrating spell of chances that went begging.
England’s chase started brightly. Tom Banton and Ben Duckett put on 91 inside 15 overs, with Banton hitting 18 off one Naseem Shah over to bring up the fifty in the eighth.
Rauf bounced out Duckett, and the innings unravelled. Banton fell for 57 when he pulled Minhas to midwicket, and Brook was bowled by a sharp-turning delivery that clipped his off stump.
Minhas and Ayub then choked the scoring, and England went 48 balls without a boundary. Root and Curran fell to Naseem and Rauf, leaving 127 needed from 111 deliveries.
Cox was lbw and Jamie Overton holed out, both falling to Minhas. Jacks then found Shahid Afridi’s hands at midwicket, and Rashid was lbw first ball.
Minhas missed out on a hat-trick but sealed the win in style. A direct hit from a mix-up between Baker and Atkinson ran out Atkinson, ending England’s innings.
The result tempers England’s optimism after six wins in nine matches. Pakistan, meanwhile, appear to have found a rising allrounder.