Abu Dhabi: Mohammad Hafeez’s brilliant unbeaten century (102 not out) and his unbroken fifth wicket partnership of 106 with Babar Azam (62 not out) made sure that Pakistan provided their long-serving Younis Khan a fitting farewell with a six-wicket win in the first ODI against England at Shaikh Zayed Stadium, on Wednesday.
Pakistan, who ran havoc in the England camp with the help of their new ball bowlers Anwar Ali and Mohammad Irfan to restrict the visitors to a modest total of 216, were themselves in a spot of bother after being reduce to 15 for 2.
Left-arm pacer Reece Topley did the early damage with wickets of Azhar Ali and Bilal Asif, both leg before.
Younis, who made an abrupt announcement of his ODI retirement earlier in the day, couldn’t script a fairytale ending as he managed just nine before walking back to the standing ovation of the crowd.
Hafeez and Shoaib Malek (26) then resurrected the Pakistan innings with a partnership of 70 runs. Azam then showed tremendous character and batted with ease in the company of Hafeez to see Pakistan home in 43. 4 overs.
Earlier, had it not been for the partnership of 133 for the fourth wicket between skipper Eoin Morgan (76) and James Taylor (60), England would have struggled to cross the 200 mark.
Having been in the UAE for over five weeks, England would have been well aware that the first 30 odd deliveries would seam and swing around a bit before one can really get going.
However, after taking the first share of the crease, their top order were made to realise that knowing something and tackling it is a completely different preposition all together.
Alex Hales, Jason Roy and the dependable Joe Root, around whom the England batting mainly relies, were all found wanting against the high quality Pakistan pace attack led by Ali and Irfan.
Roy was out in the middle for just two deliveries as he was castled for a duck by Irfan.
In the fifth ball of the next over, Ali got one to nip back and got the prized wicket of Root, leg before. From 7 for 2 England slipped to 14 for 3 after Ali got Hales to nick one to slips which Younis juggled with before holding on to it.
England skipper Morgan, playing his first match since he was struck on the side of head by fast bowler Mitchell Starc, during the fifth and final contest at Old Trafford, however, kept a cool head and weathered the carnage.
He, along with James Taylor, meticulously rebuilt England innings to take the side out of trouble waters.
Both got their half centuries and it looked like England had weathered the storm and was ready to post a competitive total.
However, Malek didn’t allow things to blossom further and got the wickets of Morgan and Taylor in the same over to stem England’s surge.
Moeen Ali fell to a brilliant diving catch at straight midwicket by Azam, which was Yasir Shah’s only wicket. While David Willey and Chris Woakes partnership of 33 was England's second-highest of the innings.
