The Pakistan captain charged out of crease and spinner read it perfectly
Mohammed Rizwan seemed to have hit form with a brilliant 122 not out against South Africa as Pakistan chased down 353 in the Tri-Series and was just four short of a fifty in the final against New Zealand.
The Pakistan captain seemed set for a big innings in the crucial Champions Trophy encounter against arch-rivals India when he made 42 off 76 balls and added 103 runs with Saud Shakeel for the third wicket.
Just when it seemed Pakistan will get move on with Rizwan charging out of his crease against Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel put an end to his innings with a smart flighted delivery.
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The leftarmer read Rizwan shuffling his feet and took pace of his delivery and pitched it perfectly under his bat as the ball thudded into the stumps.
Rizwan was out for 46 as he missed out on his 16th ODI fifty for the second time in three ODIs. In the tournament opener against New Zealand, Rizwan was dismissed for a score of 3 because of a stunner by Glenn Phillips.
India endured few close chances with Shubman Gill catch chance at short point falling short while Harshit Rana spilled a backwards running catch of Rizwan. Axar was then rewarded for his penance with disciplined bowling to Rizwan. The dismissal also opened the door for India who were on the backfoot due to the burgeoning partnership.
Pandya got Shakeel caught at deep midwicket with a slow bouncer off 35th over while Ravindra Jadeja bowled an absolute beauty to send back Tayyab Tahir.
Jadeja then took a superb sliding catch at point off Kuldeep Yadav who got Salman Agha to go for a slog sweep and get a leading edge. Pakistan were back to ambling at 200/7 when Kuldeep trapped Shaheen Afridi with a plumb LBW which the lefthander decided to review and waste DRS for his side.
Pakistan looked like they could post a total north of 300 but Axar breakthrough put their batting in disarray. Ahead of the high-octane clash, their batting consultant Mudassar Nazar had quipped that there’s nothing new with Pakistan losing and the match seems to be heading the predicted path.
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