<p>At the Eden Gardens here on Saturday, England produced a comprehensive performance—their finest in the ICC Men’s ODI World Cup 2023—beating Pakistan by 93 runs and eliminating the slimmest chance for the 1992 World Cup winners to advance to the semifinals.<img decoding=”async” class=”alignnone wp-image-278497″ src=”https://www.theindiaprint.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/theindiaprint.com-mens-odi-world-cup-england-ends-on-a-victorious-note-defeating-pakistan-by-93-runs.jpg” alt=”theindiaprint.com mens odi world cup england ends on a victorious note defeating pakistan by 93 runs” width=”1008″ height=”671″ title=”Men's ODI World Cup: England ends on a victorious note, defeating Pakistan by 93 runs 3″ srcset=”https://www.theindiaprint.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/theindiaprint.com-mens-odi-world-cup-england-ends-on-a-victorious-note-defeating-pakistan-by-93-runs.jpg 275w, https://www.theindiaprint.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/theindiaprint.com-mens-odi-world-cup-england-ends-on-a-victorious-note-defeating-pakistan-by-93-runs-150×100.jpg 150w” sizes=”(max-width: 1008px) 100vw, 1008px” /></p>
<p>With this game, both sides advanced from the group stage of the competition – Pakistan will now go home after losing to England in the final four, while England, the 2019 champion, finished on a positive note.</p>
<p>Following England’s decision to bat first and record 337/9 after Jonny Bairstow (59), Joe Root (60), and Ben Stokes (84) hit half-centuries, pacers David Willey (3-56), Adil Rashid (2-55), Gus Atkinson (2-45), and Moeen Ali (2-60) bowled well to knock out Pakistan for 244 in 43.3 overs to secure victory.</p>
<p>Pakistan went into the match knowing that their prospects of making it to the semifinals were very limited and that they would need to win by a huge margin in order to cause a significant swing in net run rate. And as England moved towards a huge first-innings score, the possibility of such an outcome quickly disappeared.</p>
<p>Stokes, whose future in the One Day International format is still up in the air, lit up England’s last match of the tournament with a brilliant 84 off 76 balls, securing their spot in the top eight.</p>
<p>Moreover, England was spot-on with the ball from the off, led by David Willey, who had a memorable last day wearing an England jersey.</p>
<p>With his final numbers of 3/56, Willey became the 14th player in the history of the England men’s side to reach 100 wickets in the ODI format. This achievement secured his team’s spot in the guaranteed top eight, securing them qualification for the next Champions Trophy.</p>
<p>Pakistan lost both of their openers to a masterful swing-bowling session early in the second innings, with Willey grabbing both wickets with the new ball.</p>
<p>On the second ball of the innings, Abdullah Shafique was caught in front for a duck. And after being caught by Stokes for one by Fakhar Zaman two overs later, Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan needed to be rebuilt.</p>
<p>While the two did manage to see out the powerplay, skipper Babar’s clean innings was ended unsatisfactorily when he was caught for 38 by Gus Atkinson at midwicket.</p>
<p>When Moeen Ali sensed that Mohammad Rizwan was about to fall, he drew back his length and turned the ball back through the gate, ultimately ending Pakistan’s chances of winning with only 36 runs.</p>
<p>Adil Rashid and Moeen capitalized on the pressure from the scoreboard on a shifting pitch. Rashid removed Saud Shaeel for 29, bowling him around his legs, and then finished off Shadab Khan (4) with a peach of a googly.</p>
<p>Pakistan’s defeat was narrowed down by some impressive late hitting by Shaheen Shah Afridi (25), Mohammad Wasim (16*), and Haris Rauf (35 from 23). For a Pakistani team that exited the competition at the group stage along with England, however, it was too little, too late.</p>
<p>Earlier, the England openers thrived in Kolkata after their victory against an early hostile spell from Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf. Rauf’s careless bowling, which saw him give up three wides in his first three overs—two of which were over the keeper’s head for four—also helped them.</p>
<p>After getting started, both batsmen hit many boundaries and made sure that England would reach almost seven by the conclusion of the first Powerplay.</p>
<p>After Mohammad Wasim joined the tweakers, everything slowed down and the batters were unable to draw boundaries. When Dawid Malan attempted to reverse sweep the bowler, he ultimately fell to Iftikhar Ahmed.</p>
<p>Shortly after, Jonny Bairstow failed to find the fielder while attempting to drive Haris Rauf over the covers, costing England their second wicket. Throughout the following six overs, Pakistan regained control and slowed the pace of scoring. In the twenty-fiveth over, they had another opportunity to score three runs, but Shaheen mishandled a simple Ben Stokes ball off his own bowling.</p>
<p>This proved costly because in the ten balls that followed, Stokes hit four boundaries against Shaheen.</p>
<p>Following this, Stokes seemed to be carrying over his Pune form, hitting boundaries at will to raise England’s scoring average to 5.82 at the 35-over point. He improved the scoring pace even more with Root, contributing 36 runs in overs 36–40.</p>
<p>England’s innings seemed to be in trouble when Stokes and Root were removed in short succession, but a superb performance of late hitting by Jos Buttler (27/18), Harry Brook (30-17), Moeen Ali (8 (6), and David Willey (15 (5)) saw them smash sixes to propel their team far beyond 300.</p>
<p>If Haris Rauf hadn’t removed Brook and Moeen and skillfully run out Buttler during his mini-spell of death bowling, that final score may have been much higher.</p>
<p>However, 337/9 was more than sufficient as England concluded their faltering campaign with a rather positive result.</p>
<p>Short scores:</p>
<p>England defeated Pakistan 244 all out in 43.3 overs (Agha Salman 51, Babar Azam 38, Haris Rauf 35; David Willey 3-56, Adil Rashid 2-55, Gus Atkinson 2-45, Moeen Ali 2-60) by 93 runs. England scored 337/9 in 50 overs (Jonny Bairstow 59, Joe Root 60, Ben Stokes 84; Haris Rauf 3-64, Shaheen Shah Afridi 2-72, Mohammad Wasim 2-74).</p>
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