Twitter Reactions: Pakistan overcome short-ball frailties to slam 348 runs against England at Trent Bridge

When Eoin Morgan opted to bowl first after winning the toss, there was a sense of fear among the Pakistan fans. Will it be a repeat of the Windies game? The question was all over their minds. To add to their agony, England picked Mark Wood to hit the Pakistan batsmen with pace. But the Men in Green were up for the challenge from the word go and put up a commendable effort with the bat to post 348 runs for the loss of six wickets after 50 overs.

Fakhar Zaman and Imam-ul-Haq opened the innings for Pakistan and after having a sighter, the former started to go against the bowling. He slammed a few attractive fours clearing the in-field even as his partner looked a bit uncomfortable even playing out a maiden. But things sailed smoothly for Pakistan in the first powerplay as the duo added 82 runs for the first wicket.

Fakhar was looking ominous and was in his elements. But Moeen Ali turned one sharply past his bat and the left-hander was stumped on 36. Soon Imam-ul-Haq was also dismissed on 44 thanks to another sensational catch, this time by Chris Woakes. At 111/2, Babar Azam and Mohammad Hafeez joined hands and stitched a brilliant partnership.

Hafeez leads the charge

While Babar looked elegant in his approach, Hafeez churned out a few quick runs upfront to get going. The duo added 88 runs for the fourth wicket and took a special liking to Adil Rashid. However, the second drinks break disturbed Babar’s concentration as he gave away a catch in the deep after scoring a fine 63. Hafeez took charge of the innings then along with Sarfaraz Ahmed.

The veteran brought his all the experience to the fore to play a sublime knock. His paced his innings beautifully and one felt that the first three-figure score of the World Cup would come off his bat. But in the process of upping the ante, Hafeez got out on 84 off just 62 deliveries. Again, Woakes made good ground to take the catch.

Meanwhile, Sarfaraz was set and he too batted well to take Pakistan over the 300-run mark. Pakistan lost a little too many wickets in the end which led to them not scoring as many runs in the last three-four overs as they would’ve liked to. Eventually, they managed to post 348 runs on the board which is still a mammoth one and England will have to bat out of their skins to gun it down.

Moeen Ali was the best bowler for the hosts as he returned with the figures of 3/50 while Chris Woakes and Mark Wood, though expensive, got into the wickets column.

Here’s how Twitter reacted: