Brook Defends Rashid Snub as England Face Pakistan Must-Win

Less than 24 hours after watching Sri Lanka pull off the second-highest successful run chase in ODI history against his side, England captain Harry Brook found himself defending one of the most controversial selection calls of the Pakistan ODI Tri-Series 2026. Brook stood by the decision to drop Adil Rashid — England's most experienced one-day spinner — for the 3rd ODI in Rawalpindi, even as Sri Lanka gunned down 430 with a ball to spare on Thursday night.

The fallout has set up Sunday's 4th ODI at Gaddafi Stadium as a full-blown crisis game for England: lose to Pakistan in Lahore and the 2019 world champions are effectively out of the tri-series, while a win for the hosts books their place in the 31 October final. And the biggest question hanging over the visitors is brutally simple — was dropping Rashid a tactical masterstroke that just didn't work, or the error that broke England's campaign?

The call that backfired

England made an eyebrow-raising selection decision before Thursday's game against Sri Lanka: Adil Rashid, their most experienced ODI player and the country's second-highest wicket-taker in the format behind only James Anderson, was left out in favour of Liam Dawson. Josh Tongue also came in for Sonny Baker. Captain Brook, who was happy to be batting first despite losing the toss to Kusal Mendis, said the pitch looked "slightly drier, and feels slightly harder."

The context was Rashid's expensive outing two nights earlier against Pakistan, when the leg-spinner — playing his first ODI since missing September's three-match series against Sri Lanka with a hand injury — took 1 for 55 from eight overs in England's 87-run defeat. But the scale of the surprise was real: according to reports, this was the first time in three years that Rashid had been left out for purely tactical reasons.

Former England captain Nasser Hussain, speaking on Sky Sports, suggested the call owed everything to what Pakistan's spinners had done to England on the same Rawalpindi surface on Tuesday night. "I think it's a tactical one, having seen the way the pitch played and seen how Pakistan's spinners bowled on it, bowling it into the surface," Hussain said. "Anything that was pitched up — whether it be seamers or spinners — got belted, and Dawson does bowl it into the surface, and obviously gives a bit more batting as well."

The "Pakistan's spinners" in question were led by Arafat Minhas, whose left-arm spin dismantled England for a six-wicket haul as Pakistan defended 302 to win by 87 runs. England's batters had no answers for him — and the irony that England then tried to copy the tactic, only to watch Sri Lanka chase down 430 anyway, has not been lost on anyone.

430, and the middle-overs disease

Thursday's numbers make grim reading for England. Brook's magnificent 202 off 116 balls — 21 fours and 10 sixes, the fastest double hundred in ODI history and the first ever by an England batter — plus Will Jacks's unbeaten 66 off 30 had carried England to 429 for 4. It should have been a match-winning total. Instead, Sri Lanka reached 430 for 8 in 49.5 overs, with Pavan Rathnayake's 130 off 106, Dasun Shanaka's brutal 97 off 50 and Janith Liyanage's unbeaten 61 off 27 completing a chase that ranks behind only South Africa's famous 434 against Australia in 2006.

England's bowlers have now conceded 732 runs across their last two games — 302 to Pakistan, then 430 to Sri Lanka. Sam Curran endured a particularly brutal evening in Rawalpindi, conceding 103 runs from nine overs, while Tongue finished with 3 for 79 despite almost dragging England back into the game in the final over.

Brook acknowledged the execution failure after the defeat. "We can take a lot of learnings from that game," he said. "The bowling, we probably didn't execute — well, we definitely didn't execute what we were trying to do for long enough. We wanted to keep the stumps in play as much as we possibly can. We were probably erring on the shorter side, which played into their hands."

Hussain went further, pointing to a familiar structural problem: England's inability to take wickets in the middle overs. "In the last two or three years, if you look at all the tables and all the stats, England have struggled to take wickets in the middle overs," he said on Sky Sports. "That, for me, is a box that England need to tick. Obviously you'll get [Jofra] Archer back and that will help [provide] a little bit of firepower."

"It doesn't matter": Brook's record and the Rashid question

For Brook personally, Thursday was the cruellest kind of history — a record-breaking innings in a losing cause. "To be involved in a game like that is incredible," he said. "And Sri Lanka, hats off to them because they've played an absolute blinder. I want to make match-winning contributions, and it wasn't match-winning. So in my eyes, it doesn't matter."

But Hussain's verdict on the Rashid situation was pointed. England's greatest-ever white-ball bowler, he argued, has been off the boil and needs to find his best form again — with the ODI World Cup in South Africa now a year away. "Maybe Adil's just come off his best as well, a little bit. He was left out today. I think today showed the need for Archer, a bit of firepower and the need for Adil Rashid to get back to his best because we all big up Adil, but he's just dropped off — maybe because of injuries, but we need Adil Rashid to get back to his best," Hussain said.

The expectation now is that Rashid returns for Sunday's clash with Pakistan in Lahore. England have also brought Mason Crane on tour as backup legspinner — preferred to Rehan Ahmed in that role — though Crane is yet to feature in the series. Whether Brook trusts Rashid again on a surface where spin has already decided one game is the defining selection call of England's tour.

What it means for Sunday's Pakistan clash

Pakistan, meanwhile, are calmly preparing for a game they can win to reach the final. The Green Shirts held their first training session at Gaddafi Stadium on Friday for the Lahore leg of the series, with batting coach Mike Smith working extensively with the batters and all-rounders, including Shadab Khan, alongside bowling and fielding drills. Pakistan sit top of the table on four points with an NRR of +1.240; Sri Lanka are second on two points (-0.348); England are bottom on zero (-0.892).

Team	Played	Won	Lost	Points	NRR
Pakistan	2	2	0	4	+1.240
Sri Lanka	2	1	1	2	-0.348
England	2	0	2	0	-0.892

A Pakistan victory on Sunday takes the hosts to six points and all but seals a final berth, while England would need to win both remaining games — including the 29 October rematch with Sri Lanka — just to stay alive. Sunday's game is also the PCB's Breast Cancer Awareness Day, with Pakistan in pink kits at a packed Gaddafi Stadium: the occasion, the crowd and the stakes all favour the hosts.

One line from the English press this week should worry the tourists most: that Pakistan at home are "an altogether better outfit than the weak side that toured England this summer." The evidence of this series backs it up — Salman Agha's comeback hundred, Hasan Nawaz's 79, Minhas's six-for, and a team that has defended two totals under pressure. England, by contrast, arrive in Lahore with their bowling in pieces, their best spinner's place under debate, and their captain's record double hundred already reduced to a footnote.

If Rashid does return on Sunday, it will be an admission — quiet or otherwise — that the Rawalpindi gamble failed. And if he doesn't, Brook will be betting the tri-series on a bowling unit that just conceded the second-highest chase in ODI history. Either way, Pakistan will be watching, and smiling.

Sources: Cricinfo, CricTracker, The Observer, Sky Sports, Geo Super, IPL.com, CricketNews.com. Match facts verified across multiple outlets on 23 October 2026.