Pakistan Beat England by 87 Runs: Minhas Magic at Rawalpindi

Pakistan 302-9 (Hasan Nawaz 79, Arafat Minhas 59; Sonny Baker 3-65) beat England 215 (38.4 ov) by 87 runs. A sensational all-round performance from 21-year-old Arafat Minhas — a maiden international half-century followed by 6 for 40 — powered Pakistan to a commanding 87-run victory over England in the second match of the ODI tri-series at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium on Tuesday, October 20. It was the first time in 21 years that England played an ODI in Pakistan, and the hosts made sure the long wait ended in green triumph.

The win puts Pakistan top of the tri-series table with two wins from two, while England — who dropped three catches and fluffed their lines with the bat — face a must-win clash against Sri Lanka on Thursday to keep their final hopes alive.

Pakistan's innings: from 133 for 5 to 302 for 9

Harry Brook won the toss and chose to bowl, with the England captain admitting dew might play a part later: "We feel like dew might play a factor in the second innings, so hopefully we can restrict them to a low total and chase it down." Shaheen Shah Afridi was unbothered by losing the toss. "For last game we also batted first, so I think it will be not different. We'll see how first ten overs gone and then we go for a big total."

England struck almost immediately. Gus Atkinson trapped Fakhar Zaman with the first ball of the match, and Sonny Baker removed Saim Ayub for 8 to leave Pakistan reeling at 31 for 2. Babar Azam's careful 34 off 52 balls, ended when Will Jacks bowled him, and Salman Agha's dismissal for 16 at 81 for 4 left the hosts in genuine trouble. When wicketkeeper Saad Baig fell for 35 off 54, Pakistan were 133 for 5 in the 28th over and staring at a below-par total.

Then came the fightback. Hasan Nawaz, batting with rare composure for his experience, supplied the innings with momentum — 79 from 74 balls with five fours and four sixes, the highest score of the match. His sixth-wicket stand of 78 with Arafat Minhas changed the complexion of the game, and even after Jamie Overton cleaned Hasan up with a yorker at 211 for 6, the acceleration only intensified. Arafat combined with Faheem Ashraf for a 72-run stand off just 49 balls; Faheem's 39 off 26 (five fours and a six) was pure late-overs theatre. England, who conceded 80 runs from the final eight overs, were ragged: three catches went down — Atkinson spilled one, while Jordan Cox, deputising behind the stumps for the injured Jos Buttler (hamstring), shelled two.

Arafat Minhas: the night a star was born

Numbers rarely tell a full story, but Arafat Minhas's match figures — 59 off 58 balls with nine fours, then 6 for 40 in 8.4 overs — tell most of it. He walked in at 133 for 5 in his fifth ODI, a 21-year-old who debuted against Australia in May, and played the most important innings of his young career before producing the decisive bowling spell of the match.

His maiden international half-century came at a strike rate above 100, all nine boundaries threaded through gaps rather than muscled over ropes. Then, with the ball, he simply dismantled England. Ben Duckett, Tom Banton and Harry Brook — England's engine room — all fell to the left-arm spinner. Banton, who had made his third successive fifty-plus score and looked set to carry the chase, was caught at midwicket; Brook was castled by a delivery that gripped and straightened — "a peach" by any standard.

In doing so, Minhas joined an exclusive club: he became only the third Pakistani to score a half-century and take a five-wicket haul in the same ODI, alongside Shahid Afridi and Abdul Razzaq. Afridi was the first to do it — coincidentally also against England, 61 and 5 for 40 in Lahore in 2000. It is the kind of company that turns a breakthrough performance into a national talking point, and Minhas earned it the hard way: walking into a collapse and leaving as the match-winner.

England's chase: bright start, ugly collapse

At 91 without loss, England looked like making a real fist of 303. Tom Banton, opening in place of the injured Jacob Bethell (knee), fired early alongside Ben Duckett, and for a while the chase had the shape of a statement. Then the wheels came off.

Duckett was bounced out by Haris Rauf, Banton fell to Minhas, and Brook's stumps were rearranged by the same bowler. Joe Root, who walked in 97 runs short of 8,000 ODI runs, was poleaxed by a Naseem Shah delivery that kept brutally low. Sam Curran — playing his first game since The Hundred in August because of a groin injury — heaved Rauf to deep backward square and was rusty with the ball too, conceding 1 for 40 off five overs. After that, England's innings unravelled completely: from a promising start, they were bowled out for 215 in 38.4 overs.

England will look back at three areas. The fielding, with three drops and 80 leaked in the last eight overs, was unacceptable. The middle order's spin-reading, against a 21-year-old, was found wanting. And the bowling, with no one besides Atkinson (2 for 35) and Overton (economical 38 from ten) applying real control, lacked the bite to finish Pakistan off when they were five down.

What the result means for the tri-series

Pakistan sit pretty: two wins from two, a healthy net run rate, and a squad whose youngsters are announcing themselves on the biggest stage. England, conversely, must now beat Sri Lanka on Thursday, October 22, to stay in contention for the October 31 final in Lahore.

Date	Fixture	Venue
Oct 18	Pakistan beat Sri Lanka by 37 runs	Rawalpindi
Oct 20	Pakistan beat England by 87 runs	Rawalpindi
Oct 22	Sri Lanka vs England	Rawalpindi
Oct 25	Pakistan vs England	Lahore
Oct 27	Pakistan vs Sri Lanka	Lahore
Oct 29	Sri Lanka vs England	Lahore
Oct 31	Final	Lahore

The October 25 meeting in Lahore — where Pakistan will wear special pink kits for Breast Cancer Awareness Day — now carries extra spice. England, smarting from this defeat, will be desperate to stop Pakistan's juggernaut; Pakistan will fancy completing a group-stage sweep and walking into the final unbeaten. We covered the pink-kits story here earlier today.

The bigger picture

Beyond the table, this match felt significant. Twenty-one years after England last played an ODI on Pakistani soil — a six-run England win in Rawalpindi in December 2005 — the fixture returned to the same ground and delivered a result that summed up how far Pakistan's white-ball depth has come. The top order wobbles, yes, and 133 for 5 will haunt the team management. But Hasan Nawaz's composure, Faheem Ashraf's finishing and, above all, Arafat Minhas's coming-of-age all-round show suggest Pakistan's next generation is not waiting politely for its turn — it is seizing matches now.

For England, the rebuild questions keep coming. Joe Root's form and experience remain their anchor, but the middle order's vulnerability to quality spin and a fielding display that would embarrass a county side are issues Brook must fix in 48 hours, before Sri Lanka offer no mercy on Thursday.

Sources: ESPNcricinfo, Sky Sports, Sportradar live scorecard, Geo Super, LiveMint.