Sarfraz Ahmed hit a battling 64 but could not prevent England’s first competitive victory of the tour.
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Since his knock of 67 against New Zealand in June 2015, Alex Hales has gone seven innings without a meaningful contribution – his highest in those seven innings being 22.
From a well-set 147-3 in the 31st over, England lost four wickets in the space of 14 runs off 32 deliveries with two going to Shoaib Malik.
The pair showed superb judgement of tempo, moving from 28-0 after seven overs to 100-0 after 17.
“To watch from the non-striker’s end he is probably one of the best players at the top of the order I have played with, certainly in England”. The England skipper reached his 29th one-day half-century with a sweetly-timed four off spinner Bilal Asif – his eighth 50 in the last 11 matches.
Mohammad Hafeez continued his fine form with an unbeaten 102 while Babar Azam scored 62 not out as Pakistan recovered from 3-41 to overhaul 218-run target in the 44 over.
While Pakistan could have opted for Ahmed Shehzad or Mohammad Rizwan to replace the retired veteran, it chose to go with Iftikhar Ahmed, an uncapped batsman, who has been drafted into the Twenty20 worldwide squad as well.
When questioned on how England’s preparations may have played a part in the struggles with the bat, playing only one warm-up game – beating Hong Kong by 169 runs on Sunday, Morgan was quick to refute those claims.
On their return to the same venue two days later, they know already there will be no repeat of the consolation surge to a 4-0 ODI series triumph after Test defeat against these same opponents here three years ago.
“Hales and Roy were outstanding”.
I played my cricket with sincerity and discipline and see Pakistan’s future as bright and am sure that youngsters can fill in.
“We were pumped up for Younis and although it was a shock for us to know that he was retiring but we want to give him the gift of a win and everyone chipped in”, said Hafeez.
He said: “This is a very special feeling, and something I’ll remember for a long time – and it’s also given us a chance as a team to win this series in tough conditions. We have managed to do that”.
In Test cricket, he averages 53.94 in 104 matches. That is a big margin of victory for England.
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“There’s a lot of relief down there”. The coaches would have been pretty angry after the performance in the first match.
