Arafat Minhas stuns England as Pakistan seize control of Rawalpindi tri-series

One-day international tri-series, Rawalpindi

• Pakistan 302-9 (50 overs): Hasan Nawaz 79 (74), Arafat Minhas 59 (58); Sonny Baker 3-65
• England 215 (38.4 overs): Tom Banton 57 (53); Arafat Minhas 6-40
• Pakistan won by 87 runs

England began their demanding winter schedule with a chastening 87-run defeat to Pakistan in the Rawalpindi leg of the one-day international tri-series, undone by a breakout all-round performance from Arafat Minhas and a series of basic fielding and batting errors.

This tri-series, played under the umbrella of the International Cricket Council, is designed to mirror the tactical and mental pressures of tournament cricket as teams build towards the next 50-over World Cup. For England, billed as using this tour-heavy winter to refine depth and gameplans, Rawalpindi instead exposed familiar frailties against spin and under pressure.

Minhas and Nawaz turn Pakistan recovery into winning total

Asked to bat on a flat Rawalpindi pitch, Pakistan were 190-5 in the 37th over and in danger of squandering a promising platform when wicketkeeper Jordan Cox dived to his right and put down a straightforward chance offered by Arafat on 12. It was one of three catches England shelled – and it proved decisive.

From that moment, Arafat and Hasan Nawaz took control of the innings. Nawaz’s powerful 79 from 74 balls set the tone, while Arafat’s composed 59 from 58 deliveries converted a precarious position into a commanding total. Together with support from Faheem Ashraf, they shifted the match from evenly poised to firmly in Pakistan’s favour.

England’s new-ball seamer Sonny Baker did strike three times to return 3-65, but his wickets came at a significant cost in boundaries. By the time Pakistan closed on 302-9, England knew they would need to post the second-highest successful ODI chase at the Rawalpindi Stadium to win.

England’s chase unravels after ideal platform

In structural terms, this was precisely the sort of chase England expect to face deep into a World Cup campaign: a required rate just over six an over on a surface offering some grip for spin under lights. Initially, they handled it well.

Openers Tom Banton and Ben Duckett scored freely to move England to 91-0, taking advantage of the new ball and fielding restrictions to keep Pakistan on the back foot. Duckett’s 45 ended when he top-edged a pull, a dismissal that shifted momentum but did not yet decide the contest.

The pivotal moment followed when Banton, set on 57 and with Pakistan searching for control, mistimed a long hop from Arafat to mid-wicket. Instead of locking in a match-defining century – and with it a stronger selection case ahead of a packed winter – England’s opener gifted Pakistan the breakthrough they needed.

From there, Arafat imposed himself with the ball. England captain Harry Brook was bowled by a sharply turning delivery for five, and Joe Root was undone by a ball from Naseem Shah that kept low to bowl him for 33. What had been a textbook chase became, in a few overs, another subcontinental collapse.

When Cox fell lbw and Jamie Overton holed out, both to Arafat, England were effectively beaten. They slid from a position of control to 215 all out in 38.4 overs, losing their last seven wickets for just 50 runs. A calamitous run out of Gus Atkinson, with the batter left face down on the turf after a mix-up with Baker, summed up a disjointed performance.

Tri-series context: Pakistan close on final, England lose early ground

Pakistan now have two wins from two in the tri-series and are already close to securing their place in the final. Controlling early results in a short, three-team tournament is critical: it offers rest, planning time and the chance to manage workloads in a congested global calendar.

For England, defeat in Rawalpindi is significant beyond the day’s scoreline. This is:

• their first ODI in Pakistan since 2005
• their first experience of tri-series ODI cricket since 2015
• the opening fixture of a winter that also includes two trips to Australia and Test tours of South Africa and Bangladesh

This Rawalpindi leg is also the first of a potential 21 ODIs before the next 50-over World Cup in southern Africa. The tri-series structure – round-robin matches followed by a final – is built to rehearse the qualification permutations and net run-rate calculations that can define tournament progress.

Pakistan, markedly stronger in home one-day conditions than in the Test series they recently lost in the UK, used this match to underline their ability to defend totals through spin and disciplined seam bowling. England, by contrast, now carry early pressure into their next fixture, when they face Sri Lanka at the same ground with both sides still seeking a first win.

England’s depth options miss a chance to convince

One of the central purposes of this tour for England is selection clarity. With Jos Buttler, Jofra Archer and Jacob Bethell all absent, squad players have been handed opportunities to influence the World Cup and winter Test plans. In Rawalpindi, several of those auditions faltered.

Cox, standing in behind the stumps, dropped two chances – including the reprieve for Arafat at 12 – and then missed the chance to repair his night with the bat. Coming in at number six with time to shape the chase, he was deceived in the flight by Arafat and trapped lbw for 18.

Baker, whose three wickets came amid an expensive spell, will know that new-ball economy is as closely watched by selectors as strike rate, particularly when England assess contrasting conditions in Australia, South Africa and Bangladesh over the coming months.

Banton, fresh from a century in a recent ODI series against Sri Lanka, again showed his range of strokeplay but did not convert a promising start into the sort of match-winning hundred that would have complicated the impending selection squeeze when Bethell returns for the Australia tour.

In the middle order, Brook was “all at sea” against Arafat’s turn, Root could feel aggrieved at the manner of his dismissal by Naseem, and Sam Curran – playing his first match since The Hundred – shovelled a catch to deep square leg for 27. When Curran departed with England 177-5 midway through the 32nd over, the required composure and resource management never materialised.

Pakistan’s spin and Rawalpindi conditions expose familiar English flaw

Pakistan’s resurgence from 133-5 in the 28th over owed much to their ability to read the surface and target England’s weakest match-ups. Hasan Nawaz’s slog-sweep for six from the first ball he faced from Adil Rashid signalled a clear intent to deny England’s leg-spinner any control through the middle overs.

Alongside Arafat and Faheem Ashraf, Nawaz carried Pakistan from a merely competitive total to one that demanded risk from England’s chase. Under lights, with the ball gripping and the outfield dewy – conditions the England camp had anticipated at the interval – Arafat delivered the kind of spell that shapes tournaments, not just bilateral series.

His 6-40 were the best figures by a Pakistan spinner in an ODI against England, and the wickets themselves mapped out a wider structural issue for the touring side: an inability, over many years, to recalibrate tempo, footwork and shot selection when high-quality spin attacks in Asian conditions. Arafat’s direct-hit run out of Atkinson to close the innings underlined his influence in all three disciplines.

The scenes at Rawalpindi – a noisy full house, Pakistan’s spinners dictating terms, England’s lower order succumbing in clumps – will be familiar to long-time observers of England in the sub-continent. For a team consciously building towards another global tournament, the persistence of this pattern is likely to be a prominent topic in internal reviews led by team management and selectors.

Leadership, game management and Brook’s response

In his post-match assessment, England captain Harry Brook stressed that his side had judged 300 to be “slightly under par” given the dew they expected later in the evening and that they were “pretty happy at halfway”. The opening partnership between Banton and Duckett seemed to validate that reading.

Brook identified the loss of wickets in “clumps” as the defining story of the innings, highlighting England’s failure to rotate the strike and maintain pressure on Pakistan’s spinners through the middle overs. He suggested England had been “a little too careful against the spinners”, acknowledging a tactical conservatism that contrasted with their stated intent to be proactive in limited-overs cricket.

For a young captain tasked with guiding a squad through a complex winter schedule and into a World Cup, this defeat becomes a live case study in game management: when to absorb pressure, when to attack spin, and how best to marshal resources once in-game plans begin to fray.

Schedule, governance and the cost of early missteps

The tri-series sits within a saturated international calendar administered by the ICC’s global events and Future Tours Programme. England’s commitment to five separate tours across four countries and three continents this winter reflects both bilateral agreements and broader obligations to maintain competitive balance and broadcast windows across formats.

Within that framework, Rawalpindi’s defeat has immediate and longer-term implications. In the short term, England’s next match – against Sri Lanka at the same venue on Thursday – now carries heightened importance. Both teams are searching for a first win; the side that loses again risks treating the remainder of the tri-series as rehearsal rather than live qualification work.

Over the medium term, performances like this one will feed directly into selection for the World Cup in southern Africa and for Test tours later in the winter. Depth players such as Cox, Baker and Banton are being judged not only on individual contributions but also on how they respond under the kind of pressure tri-series formats are designed to replicate.

For Pakistan, the structural benefits are clearer. Two wins from two ease the physical and mental burden on their core players, allow more controlled rotation and reinforce Rawalpindi as a venue where their mix of seam, spin and aggressive middle-order batting travels well to knockout-style cricket.

Match detail at a glance

England’s task now is to show that Rawalpindi was a jolt, not a trend: to translate Brook’s reflections on intent, strike rotation and spin management into tangible change against Sri Lanka, and to ensure that a winter designed for World Cup preparation does not begin with a pattern of preventable defeats.