England defeat Pakistan by 93 runs

Defending champions England, at last, managed to seal at least three victory in the 2023 World Cup after adding a 93-run victory over Pakistan in the 44th game of the tournament in Kolkata.

English bowlers kept Pakistani batters restricted to 244 runs taking all of their wickets in 43.3 overs while defending a huge 337 runs at the Eden Gardens on Saturday.

Targeting 338, Pakistan lost their opener Abdullah Shafiqure before getting off the mark, and chronologically offering wickets at regular intervals.

Apart from Agha Salman (51), none of Pakistani batters could cross the 50 mark while Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan and bowler Haris Rauf added 38, 36 and 35 runs respectively.

Even being a bowler, Rauf showed his teammate batters how to bat in such a pressure situation making a 53-run stand with Mohammad Wasim Jr (16) in the last wicket.

David Willey took the highest three wickets for England while each of Adil Rashid, Moeen Ali and Gus Atkinson got two.

Earlier, England have posted a massive total score of 337 runs before Pakistan getting a decent foundation with a couple of big partnerships.

Opting to bat, England got a flying start with their opening pair between Dawid Malan (39) and Jonny Bairstow (59), with adding 82 runs in 13.3 overs.

Joe Root (60) and Ben Stokes (84) then came in the middle and took the momentum toward them making a 132-run stand between them.

In the late overs, skipper Jos Buttler (27) Harry Brook (30) played cameos to put the team on a high to set the huge 338-run target.

Haris Rauf took the highest three wickets for Pakistan while each of Shaheen Afridi and Mohammad Wasim Jr got two.

Playing XIs

England: Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Harry Brook, Jos Buttler (c & wk), Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, David Willey, Gus Atkinson, Adil Rashid.

Pakistan: Abdullah Shafique, Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Agha Salman, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Afridi, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Haris Rauf.