England knocked out Pakistan from the ODI World Cup with a 93-run win at Eden Gardens as they also confirmed their qualification for the 2025 Champions Trophy. Pakistan had a close-to-impossible task to reach semis when England won the toss and elected to bat first.
Riding on half-centuries from Ben Stokes (84), Joe Root (60) and Jonny Bairstow (59), England posted a formidable 337/9 on the scoreboard and it turned out to be too much for Pakistan as they were bundled out for 244.
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Senior campaigner Babar Azam (38) and Mohammad Rizwan (36) failed to convert the good starts into big scores as Pakistan kept losing wickets at regular intervals. The Men in Green were off to a horrible start with openers Abdullah Shafique (0) and in-form Fakhar Zaman (1) getting out early in the chase.
Agha Salman did show some fightback with his 51-run knock but he didn’t get much support from the other end.
Meanwhile, it was the last three who entertained the crowd the most with some big shots. Shaheen Shah Afridi scored 25 runs off 23 balls to start the fireworks but the 53-run stand for the 10th wicket between Haris Rauf (35) and Mohammad Wasim Jr. (16*) made the fans jump out of their seats.
David Willey, who was playing his final game for England, was the pick of the bowlers with three wickets under his kitty. While Adil Rashid, Gus Atkinson and Moeen Ali claimed a couple each.
Earlier, Ben Stokes scored 84 in what is likely to be his last one-day international as England made 337-9 against Pakistan in the World Cup at Kolkata.
Stokes — dropped on 10 by Shaheen Shah Afridi off his own bowling — rode his luck during a 76-ball innings.
Joe Root added a 72-ball 60 after England won the toss and batted.
When Jos Buttler won the toss, it effectively left Pakistan out of the semi-final race as they needed to beat England by 287 runs had they batted first to go ahead of New Zealand in the standings on net run-rate.
Stokes and Root built on a solid opening stand of 82 between Jonny Bairstow (59) and Dawid Malan (31), taking full advantage of a slow Eden Gardens pitch and some wayward bowling.
Bairstow hit seven boundaries and a six in his 61-ball knock — his second fifty in an otherwise lacklustre performance in the tournament.
Haris Rauf was the pick of the bowlers with three wickets, while Shaheen Shah Afridi claimed two.
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