Patriot Report
CARDIFF: Pakistan thrashed tournament favorites England by eight wickets and cruised to the final of ICC Champions Trophy here at the Sophia Gardens on Wednesday.
Hosts England, who had won their all three matches in Group A, were outplayed by Pakistan who were the lowest ranked side in the eight-team Champions Trophy tournament.
Chasing a target of 212, Pakistan completed their victory with 77 balls to spare. Opening batsman Azhar Ali top scored for Pakistan with 76 runs, he was aided by fellow opening batsman Fakhar Zaman who scored a blistering 57. Babar Azam and Muhammad Hafeez chipped in with scores of 38 and 31 respectively to close the game for Pakistan.
Earlier, Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed won the toss and sent England into bat who found it hard to play against an accurate bowling with no batsman making a fifty and the whole team was bowled out for 211 in 49.5 overs.
Man of the match Hasan Ali was the most successful bowler with three for 35 while left-arm pacers Junaid Khan and Rumman Raees claimed two wickets each. Leg-break bowler Shadab Khan took one wicket.
Debutant Rumman who had previously played just two Twenty20 Internationals caused England plenty of problems with his accurate bowling. The main scorers for England were Joe Root (46), Jonny Bairstow (43), Ben Stokes (34) and Eoin Morgan (33).
Pakistan will meet either India or Bangladesh in the Champions Trophy final on June 18.