New Delhi: The ball was turning, Pakistan had put 164 on the board and England were 58/4 early in their chase. They desperately needed someone to step up, and that is exactly what Harry Brook did.
The England skipper, promoted to No.3 ahead of Jacob Bethell, hit a brilliant 100 off 51 balls to negate the early wickets and single-handedly (rest of the batters made 62 off 62 balls) guide his side to an unnecessarily thrilling two-wicket win at Pallekele. England finished on 166/8 in 19.1 overs.
“Baz (coach Brendon McCullum) came to me in the morning and said we may change it up and put you up at No.3,” said Brook. “We’ve spoken about being able to adapt and the bravery to do that was great. Nice to get out there and face as many balls as possible.”
England, with two wins in Super 8 from two matches, have sealed a place in the semi-finals for the fifth consecutive World Cup. The same, though, can’t be said about Pakistan, who will face a pretty nervy final game against Sri Lanka.
Pakistan weren’t at their best with the bat. The early wickets of Saim Ayub and Salman Agha meant that Sahibzada Farhan (63 off 45b) and Babar Azam needed to be careful, which slightly slowed their scoring.
Farhan has looked the best of the Pakistan batters for a reason. He played some smart cricket, ones and twos interspersed with boundaries. The wicket demanded a different approach and he was more than ready to oblige.
However, Babar’s struggles at the other end bogged Pakistan down. In the four overs after the Powerplay, they added just 24 runs while failing to hit a boundary. Coach Mike Hesson was frowning in the dugout, but that is the way his team often turns out.
That pressure eventually led to Babar (25 off 24b) being dismissed when he tried to hit across the line off Jamie Overton, only succeeding in playing back on to the stumps.
Farhan kept going, though, and his partnership with Fakhar Zaman (25 off 16) brought Pakistan’s innings back to life. A few quick runs from Shadab Khan took the total to 164/9 but even at the break, it felt like a below-par total.
England’s chase stuttered thanks to an energised Shaheen Shah Afridi. Returning to the team after being dropped in the previous game, he sent Phil Salt back with the first ball of the innings and dismissed an off-colour Jos Buttler in his second over.
But Brook was in a different zone. Even as wickets kept falling, he kept playing the shots. Of the 53 runs England scored in the Powerplay, Brook scored 41.
He carried them for the rest of the match. While every other batter struggled with the conditions, Brook capitalised on opportunities, hitting big shots (10 fours and 4 sixes) while also running the ones and twos well.
Pallekele isn’t the biggest ground, but England ran 14 twos and that proved to be the difference in the end. Pakistan scored 98 runs in boundaries while England hit just 92. However, Pakistan’s poor fielding and better running between the wickets gave Brook’s team the edge.
Brook was on a record spree of sorts, becoming the first England skipper to score a ton in T20Is and the third England batter to score a century in all three formats. The fall of his wicket caused England’s other batters to lose their way a bit before Jofra Archer sealed the win with a four.
“I think Harry batted brilliantly,” said Pakistan skipper Salman Agha. “Our score was a bit short. And then Brook took the game away from us. We threw everything at him.”
For much of the second half of the chase, Pakistan’s keeper Usman Khan kept screaming, “Ek wicket ki baat hai (It’s all about one wicket),” to anyone who would listen. But in the end, it proved to be a wicket too far.
