ICC Champions Trophy 2017 – England Vs Pakistan: Five Turning Points

Nov 2, 2023 at 3:39 PM

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ICC Champions Trophy 2017 – England Vs Pakistan: Five Turning Points

From struggling to even qualify for the tournament ahead of a team like West Indies at one stage, Pakistan now are the first team to qualify for the final of the ICC Champions Trophy. Not many people gave them a chance against England but they completely outplayed the hosts and registered a comprehensive win by 8 wickets.

The match was utterly one sided with Pakistan dominating the English side in all three departments of the game. This is the first time Pakistan has qualified for the finals in the ICC Champions Trophy. They made it to the semi-final thrice previously but lost every time.

 

Here we look at the 5 turning points of the game.

 

  1. Rumman Raees filling the big shoes:

Pakistan lost the services of their spearhead, Mohammed Amir, as the left arm pacer was injured before the start of the match. They replaced him with their backup pacer Rumman Raees. Big Match, big shoes to fill and Rumman Raees did more than fine with the ball. He took the crucial wicket of in-form English opener Alex hales to give Pakistan its first break and later chipped in with the wicket of Liam Plunkett in the penultimate over. His main job was to make sure Pakistan doesn’t miss Amir’s services and one must admit he has done that pretty well.

  1. Stokes’ struggle with the bat:

Ben Stokes came into this match after smashing Australia all over the park. But in this match, he looked completely different. He was struggling to middle the ball and rotate the strike. He played 64 balls for his 34 and failed to hit a single boundary. That shows how much the extent to which he tortured himself in the middle. Credits must be given to the Pakistani bowlers for making it extremely difficult for him. It was a big turning point in the match as at the 30 over mark England looked like getting somewhere around 260 but ended up getting only 211 which made it very easy for Pakistani batsman.

  1. Shabad getting Joe Root:

After a not so flamboyant start, England were still in a good position at the halfway stage of their innings going at just under 5 runs per over. Knowing the strength and depth of England’s batting order one must have thought they might still end up getting over 300. But then the young leg spinner Shadab Khan took the all important wicket of Joe Root and Pakistan’s bowlers ran through England’s middle order.

  1. Junaid & Hasan’s strikes in the middle overs:

Pakistan got right back into the game after getting the wicket of Joe Root. But England still had a lot of batting to come in the form of Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler & Moeen Ali. Hasan Ali then got the all important wicket of Eoin Morgan and Junaid Khan produced another magical spell picking up the wickets of Jos Buttler and Moeen Ali. England were soon left reeling at 181/7.  These strikes in the middle overs completely turned the match towards Pakistan.

  1. Pakistan Openers’ Solid start:

Even after folding out England for a below par 211 there still must have been some panic in Pakistani fans especially after seeing how they almost made a mess of the chase against Sri Lanka. But the openers gave them a dream start adding 118 in just 21.1 overs. Any hopes of England getting into the match were ended by the opening duo.

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