Twitter Reactions: Pakistan knock out favourites England to book their first CT finals spot
Pakistan stunned hosts in the semi-final to become the first team to qualify for CT 2017 final.
Quite recently in the tournament, we’ve seen the trend of underdogs emerging victorious. And it continued in the semi-finals. The no.8 ranked team in the world Pakistan managed to knock out the favourites and hosts England out of the Champions Trophy 2017. What’s more surprising is that this was a purely one-sided encounter.
Earlier in the day, it was captain Sarfaraz Khan who won the toss as Pakistan elected to field first. They were forced to make a change as debutant Rumman Raees came in place of the injured Mohammed Amir while Shadab Khan replaced Faheem Ashraf. For the hosts, Jonny Bairstow replaced Jason Roy in the playing XI.
Batting first, Alex Hales failed to make it count. On the other hand, Bairstow got off to a good start alongside Joe Root. However, both couldn’t capitalise and were dismissed in their 40s. Skipper Eoin Morgan and Ben Stokes also got openings but couldn’t convert it into big ones.
From 128/2, the English batting lineup faltered to 211 all out failing to last even 50 overs. The likes of Jos Buttler and Moeen Ali too were dismissed cheaply as the Pakistani bowling reduced the England batters to tatters. Hassan Ali was again the star of this bowling line up with figures of 3/35. Junaid Khan and Rumman Raees also got a couple of wickets each.
If there was any team that could’ve stopped Pakistan from chasing a target of 212, that would’ve been Pakistan itself. Surprisingly, the openers won it for them with great comfort. Azhar Ali and Fakhar Zaman put up a brilliant partnership of 118 runs for the first wicket. Both registered outstanding fifties as they set the platform for the chase.
While they got out, Pakistan didn’t have any difficulty as they managed to pull off a sensational victory by 8 wickets. With this win, the Champions Trophy final is all set to be an all-Asian encounter as Pakistan is slated to face the winner of the India-Bangladesh game.
Here are some of the amazing Twitter reactions during the course of the game:
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