England Vs Pakistan Semi final: What went wrong for England

England vs Pakistan:

Pakistan upset the odds by knocking out hosts England in the first semi-final of the ICC Champions Trophy 2017, following a thumping eight-wicket victory at Cardiff. 

When Pakistani Captain Sarfraz Ahmed won the toss, and chose to bowl, England’s openers Alex Hales and Johnny Bairstow got England off to a reasonable start with an opening partnership of 34 runs in 5.4 overs. But they soon lost their wickets due to poor decision making with the bat and terrific bowling from the Pakistani bowlers. Once the top three batsman were dismissed, everything started to go pear-shaped as England lost 7 wickets for just 83 runs.   

What went wrong for England?

The problem for England was that four of their top 6 batsmen all got off to a reasonable start but could not convert them into big scores. It was only Joe Root and Johnny Bairstow who showed some courage to fight fire with fire against the Pakistani bowlers, but as soon as they were dismissed it looked as if the wheels were starting to come off the England innings.  

What went well for Pakistan?

Rising star Hassan Ali who took 3 wickets for 35 runs was the pick of the bowlers for me. I was impressed with his attitude and desire to perform well for his country.  The way he ran in and hit the pitch hard was sensational. Safraz’s decision to bring on left arm pacer Junaid Khan to remove the dangerous Jos Buttler also proved to be a master stroke as many people know how destructive he can be, especially towards the end of the innings.

England’s Bowling

When it was England’s turn to bowl, they were a little impatient from the start. Instead of bowling a good line and length, they were looking to bounce out the Pakistani openers Azhar Ali and Fakhar Zaman who looked comfortable against the short ball.

Mark Wood and Adil Rashid who was brought into the attack far too late in the Pakistan innings, were the pick of the bowlers in terms of how England’s bowling performance went despite them ending up on the losing side they finished with figures of 0-37 and 1-54 but Rashid looked the more threatening of the England bowlers.

                                                                                                                 

Tournament Success 

Since England had won the 2010 twenty20 in the Caribbean, they have only reached the final in one major tournament in the last 7 years, this was the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy, where they lost to India by just 5 runs.

England went into this tournament following a One day international series win over South Africa and were considered as favourites to lift the Champions Trophy. They also looked good in their three group matches against Bangladesh, Australia and New Zealand where they won all three games quite convincingly.    

In their last 10 one day internationals, England had scored over 300 runs in each innings and this tournament was a chance for them to win their first global 50-over trophy but they were outplayed by the country who beat them in the 1992 World Cup final.

Pakistan on the other hand were sensational. When they lost their first game against arch rivals India, everybody thought that they were down and out, But the way they have responded since the defeat to India is incredible.

The fact that they had previously won a World T20 tournament in England in 2009 gives them some confidence ahead of Sunday's final against either Bangladesh or their greatest rivals India. 

We should be in for a Bollywood sizzler at the Kia Oval on Sunday.