ENG vs PAK | Takeaways: Pakistan and England’s battle of wits and Jos Buttler fluctuating presence in run-chase
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Pakistan ended their 12-match losing streak, that too against England of all teams, to ensure that they put Windies loss behind to make a solid comeback. Both the teams were involved in a battle of wits at the beginning but Pakistan came out as winners with an accidental, manoeuvre.
Pakistan come triumphant in "Game of Wits"
Nottingham is at the centre of England's evolution in ODI cricket and it is a venue that gave them the timely reminder that their formula is alright in search of their maiden World Cup triumph. Pakistan, on the other hand, had just come back from a terrifying loss to Windies at the same venue four days ago where a barrage of short balls brought all their mistakes to the fore and England found a plan to go after. For that, Liam Plunkett became the casualty to add more pacy substance to the team and there comes, Mark Wood, with fire and brimstone.Â
Both Fakhar Zaman and Imam ul Haq are good players of pace bowling and rarely struggle, never mind what happened against Windies. They stuck to the basics and with Wood and Jofra Archer sending one bouncer after another, both of them, and Zaman, in particular, found it really comforting. Then England played the first stroke by bringing in Moeen Ali to bowl to the left-hander, knowing fully that he struggles against off-spin, dismissed seven times by off-spinners at an average of 26 runs per dismissal - his worst record against any bowler type. Once Ali got the better of Zaman, Babar Azam and Imam had to adapt to a slow approach which invariably meant Imam had to try down the ground but the longer boundary restricted him straightaway and Chris Woakes took a stunner in the deep.Â
However, Pakistan had the last laugh after England moved to Adil Rashid to give them a dismissal. Sure enough, Rashid created a chance, but once Jason Roy dropped him, Pakistan hit him to submission, with Azam and Mohammed Hafeez targeting the short square leg boundary for slogs. England, getting scared of the partnership to blossom, brought in the triumvirate of Woakes, Archer, and Wood to bowl the last 15 overs, but Pakistan, by then, were on course to score 350. A little proactive approach in the overs between 15 and 30 and the presence of Plan B could have helped England big-time.
Did Pakistan top-order really understand Moeen?
Moeen Ali is a classic anomaly of modern-day off-spinner. His line of attack is very simple yet effective and unless and until a batsman tries to step out of the wicket, it is very hard to hit him across the line. That becomes difficult especially because of the drift that he imparts, which on flat decks become even more dangerous thanks to the amount of revs he gives to the ball.Â
Pakistan, however, adopted a more conventional approach against the spinner and stayed inside the crease to tackle him, failing to understand that it was difficult to play him across the line. Most of the top-order Pakistan batsmen waited for the right opportunity and instead of stepping out, they relied more on the outside off-stump deliveries to get going. As a result, Zaman and Azam managed just five singles between them when coming down the pitch, as Moeen settled into his work. Ali is a kind of bowler who thrives on confidence and by giving him the downtime, Pakistan dug their own grave.Â
On the other hand, Hafeez understood that early on and as soon as he reached the ground, after getting a life thanks to a Jason Roy drop, he instantly shifted momentum to come down the pitch and hit Ali for a six over long-on. The odd-shaped ground, which had the resemblance to a baseball field, also helped the cause, but Ali had already inflicted the damage, giving away just 50 runs for three wickets in 10 overs.
Buttler is good, but is he actually good in run chases?
Jos Buttler is a modern-day phenomenon and there is no doubt to what he can do as a batsman. He inflicts damage on a regular basis and one of the fundamental reasons why England can even aspire to shake the World Cup and wish to continue the trend of host country winning the World Cup for the third consecutive time. However, is there is a hole in the ceiling that just passes as fit without proper examination? Let’s consider Jos Buttler’s record in the run-chase as one.
In his 133-match ODI career, Jos Buttler has come out to bat in a run chase for 47 times, aggregating a total of 1429 at a strike rate of 110.51. That is good enough, especially when you account to his average of 40.82 in the run chase to his career average of 41.97, but that is deceptive for more reasons than one. In all those innings, he has remained unbeaten 23 times which factors to his average, but his match-winning ability is getting quarantined a fair bit.Â
Apart from his gutsy 110 against Australia in Manchester last year, none of his centuries in the run chase had been converted to a win for the win. It says something about the kind of cricket that he believes in as much as it does about his lack of responsibility as well. With the early summer kicking in, batting has become massively difficult in North England and England will not be in good space if their prime batsman becomes impatient during the most crucial period in the game. His innings was all class today - there’s no doubt about it - but the time has come for Buttler to do some introspection too.
