Pakistan Beat England by 1 Wicket — Shadab Khan's 113 Not Out From 154 for 9 Books the Final

There is a moment in most lost causes when the ground starts to empty. At the Gaddafi Stadium on Sunday it came at 154 for 9 in the 34th over, Pakistan still 88 short of England's 241 and Haris Rauf walking out to join Shadab Khan. A full house, matching the pink Pakistan wore for Breast Cancer Awareness Day, began to drift towards the exits. Cricket keeps its best stories for the people who stay until the lights go off.

Shadab made 113 not out off 96 balls. He and Rauf added 89 for the tenth wicket, which ESPNcricinfo records as the highest last-wicket stand in a successful ODI chase, and Pakistan won by one wicket with 17 balls to spare. It was their third win in three, and it puts them in the final on October 31. For England, a Ben Duckett hundred and a total they defended for 33 overs ended as a third defeat in a row.

Pakistan won their first toss of the series and Shaheen Shah Afridi made it count inside the first over. Tom Banton pushed the fifth ball of the match to Arafat Minhas at short cover, Shaheen's 150th ODI wicket. Joe Root sliced him to backward point in the third over, where Saim Ayub went low for a sharp catch. Harry Brook, who had faced six dots from Shaheen, set off for a second to Razaullah's arm and was well short as Saad Baig took the bails. When Jordan Cox edged to Babar Azam in the tenth over England were 52 for 4, and the powerplay closed at 56 for 4.

The second act was about patience. Shaheen came back to find the short ball that Sam Curran did not want and had him caught at 145. Minhas was not used until the 29th over; in his second over he had Ben Duckett, just past his hundred, top-edging a sweep to Salman Agha, and he later took Overton too for 2 for 26 in eight. Razaullah caught and bowled Liam Dawson, and from 145 for 5 England lost five wickets for 56. Only Gus Atkinson's 36 not out off 28, with three sixes in a 40-run last-wicket stand with Henry Crocombe, dragged the total to 241.

The chase that followed looked nothing like a Pakistan performance in this tournament. Fakhar Zaman, Saim Ayub and Babar Azam were gone by the seventh over at 31 for 3, Babar bowled through the gate by Atkinson after a regal straight drive the ball before. Saad Baig's 32 off 22 was over by the 12th over. Hasan Nawaz holed out to Brook off Dawson, Minhas gloved Overton to Root at leg slip the next over, and Salman Agha's charge at Dawson ended at long-off. Shaheen and Razaullah went cheaply. From 154 for 9, Pakistan scored 89 without losing another wicket, and the last 7.1 overs produced 50 for none.

It needs saying plainly: England played well for most of this match. Duckett's 105 off 111, with ten fours and two sixes, was built from 19 for 3. He reached fifty off 54 balls and his hundred off 104, and the 93 he added with Curran in 105 balls was the only sustained partnership of the England innings. Curran's 42 off 52 was all accumulation, five fours and no risk. Then, with the ball, Overton's 3 for 43 and Dawson's 10-1-30-2 gave the innings a shape England had been looking for all series. With Adil Rashid not in the XI, Dawson's fourth-stump line from round the wicket was the best spin England have bowled in this tri-series, and Atkinson's dismissal of Babar was a top-order bowler's wicket.

Nine wickets for 154 is a winning scorecard. The tenth cost 89, and it is fair to ask how. Shadab found a boundary or two in most overs and handed Rauf the last ball or two, and for 80 balls England were one delivery away without ever quite finding it. The closest they came was with Shadab on 97: a full toss from Atkinson struck the front pad, the finger went up, and UltraEdge found the faintest inside edge. With nine needed, Brook brought the field up for the last ball of an over to get Rauf on strike; Shadab lofted Atkinson over mid-off for six instead. Crocombe, on debut, finished with 6.1-0-57-1 and five wides, and the winning runs were struck back past him by Rauf. England did not throw this game away. They just could not take the last wicket, and against a batter of Shadab's clean hitting that was enough.

The numbers of the stand bear repeating. Pakistan were 154 for 9 after 33.5 overs, needing 88 off 97 balls. Shadab was on 13 at the second drinks break with Pakistan 122 for 7, and had reached fifty off 52 balls. In the last-wicket partnership he scored 81 of the 89 runs off 80 balls; Rauf faced 19 balls for his 7 not out and did not get out. The fifty for the tenth wicket came in 45 balls, Pakistan passed 200 in the 41st over, and Shadab's hundred came off 92 balls with twelve fours and four sixes.

There is a version of this story that is only about luck, the inside edge on 97. That would be unfair. The strike rotation was deliberate, the hitting was straight, and by the time the review went Pakistan's way the equation had already come down from 88 to 21. The best partnerships are built on the quiet balls, the ones nobody remembers, and this one was made of 80 of them.

Shadab's day started long before the batting. He bowled seven overs for 31 without a wicket, held the catch that removed Dawson off Razaullah, and then walked in at 103 for 6 with Pakistan's recognised batting all but gone. His 113 not out off 96 balls carried thirteen fours and five sixes, and it was shaped around a tail-ender who had to be protected for 80 balls. Centuries in lost causes are common enough. Centuries that un-lose the cause from 154 for 9 are not, and this one will be told in Lahore for a very long time.

Our preview called Pakistan clear favourites, and they won, but a one-wicket win from 154 for 9 is not what "clear" looks like. We expected a high-scoring game on a true Lahore surface, with England needing 320-plus to give themselves a chance. We got 241 and 243 for 9, 19 wickets in the match, and an England total 80 runs short of our number that was very nearly enough. The surface produced seam movement for Shaheen and Atkinson rather than the flat deck we described, and the bowlers, not the batters, set the terms.

The key matchup we flagged, Arafat Minhas against England's middle order, was half right. Minhas was held back until the 29th over and finished with 2 for 26, including Duckett, but the destruction of England's top order was Shaheen's work, 4 for 46. We also built our Pakistan attack around Naseem Shah, who did not bowl; Razaullah's 2 for 38 and the run-out of Brook were the contributions in that slot. And we wrote about Pakistan's middle order as their strength. It made 102 for 5. The match was decided by a batter at No. 8 and a bowler at No. 11, which nobody, including us, predicted.

Pakistan are 3-0 on six points and have qualified for the final on October 31. England have lost all three of their games, both defeats to Pakistan, by 87 runs in Rawalpindi and now by one wicket here, and Sri Lanka sit on two points. The remaining league games are Pakistan against Sri Lanka on October 27 and England against Sri Lanka on October 29, and England's only route to the final runs through winning that second one. Pakistan's question is a happier one: the top order has now failed twice in succession, and a final is not the place to need another miracle from No. 8.