England captain Harry Brook admitted he could not believe how young Pakistan’s left-arm spinner Arafat Minhas is after Pakistan beat England by 87 runs in Rawalpindi.
Minhas took 6-40 in the match, his second five-wicket haul in just his fifth ODI. Brook was among his victims, losing his off-stump to a delivery that beat him all ends up.
At the post-match press conference, Brook praised the bowler and said England let him bowl to his plan without putting him under enough pressure. He then reacted with surprise when he heard Minhas is only 21.
“Is he [Arafat Minhas] under 21? I didn’t know that. He is a nice bowler; he bowled really well,” Brook told the media.
“He was a standout performer by a mile. We’ve all seen videos of him, but we haven’t played against him much. I thought they fielded exceptionally well, too,” he added.
Brook said that England felt satisfied with holding Pakistan to 302-9, but dew made batting easier in the chase. He also said his side could have been more aggressive against Minhas.
“We were pretty happy with restricting them to 300. We knew dew was going to play a factor, and it did. We were slightly careful against him, but we could look to put him under a little more pressure next time we play against him,” Brook observed.
Minhas also played a key role with the bat. Coming in at number seven, he scored 59 off 58 balls as Pakistan recovered from 81-4. Hasan Nawaz top-scored with 79 off 74 balls, Faheem Ashraf hit 39 off 26 and Saad Baig added 35.
England fell short in reply and were bowled out for 215 chasing 303. Tom Banton made 57 and Ben Duckett scored 45. Minhas removed Will Jacks and Adil Rashid with successive deliveries, then ran out Gus Atkinson to finish the innings. The win was Pakistan’s second in a row in the tournament.
Minhas made his ODI debut in May, when he took five wickets against Australia. He has since taken 22 wickets in 12 international matches, and his form puts him in contention for a place in Pakistan’s 2027 World Cup squad.
