Babar Azam-led Pakistan faced a second-stringed England unit in the first ODI, of the three-match series, after the England Cricket Board (ECB) had to rejig the entire squad following Covid cases in their camp, after the Sri Lanka home white-ball series.
As a result, Babar & Co. faced a Ben Stokes-led England outfit and many expected the visitors to dictate terms, owing to most of the England mainstays being out due to Covid-19 cases in the team. However, Stokes-led England showed their daunting bench strength as the new-look team demolished the Men in Green in the ODI series opener on Thursday (July 08).
Opting to bowl first at the Sophia Gardens, Cardiff, Stokes-led hosts dismissed the one-time world champions for a paltry 141 in 35.2 overs. Saqib Mahmood wreaked havoc on the famed Pakistani batting line-up with his 4 for 42 as the visitors remained clueless and on the back foot from the word go. In reply, Pakistan couldn’t pull off a surprise as England went past the finish line in 21.5 overs, with 9 wickets and 169 balls to spare.
Following the defeat, the ardent Pakistan cricket fans — who are very passionate and can be ruthless on their side’s disastrous performances — didn’t mince their words and mercilessly trolled the Babar Azam-led outfit for their poor show in all departments.
Pakistan came to the series on the back of a memorable trip to South Africa, where they won both the ODI and the T20Is. On the other hand, they had enough match practice too in the form of their key players being involved in the second leg of PSL 6, in the UAE. Thus, they are short of excuses to defend such a performance and would look to come hard against England to silence their critics in the second and penultimate ODI, on Saturday (July 10).
After the loss, Babar stated at the post-match presentation, “They picked up early wickets and that never allowed us to score big. Credit to England bowlers for taking wickets as that took the momentum away. Fakhar Zaman can open. Zaman did carry his form from PSL. We are looking forward to the next game.”
