From 154 for 9, Shadab Khan's unbeaten 113 and Haris Rauf's defiant 7 carried Pakistan past England by one wicket in Lahore; the highest last-wicket stand in a successful one-day chase, and a final place on 31 October.
Published 26 October 2026 · 13:16 GMT
From 154 for 9, Shadab Khan's unbeaten 113 and Haris Rauf's defiant 7 carried Pakistan past England by one wicket in Lahore; the highest last-wicket stand in a successful one-day chase, and a final place on 31 October. Pakistan beat England by one wicket in Lahore on 25 October 2026, chasing 242 after falling to 154 for 9. Shadab Khan finished on 113 not out off 96 balls, with 13 fours and five sixes, his maiden one-day century.
On Sunday, 25 October 2026, at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, Pakistan beat England by one wicket in the one-day international tri-series, which also features Sri Lanka. Chasing 242, Pakistan had collapsed to 154 for 9 in the 34th over, with one wicket left and 88 runs still needed, when Shadab Khan and Haris Rauf came together for the last wicket. They added an unbroken 89, and Pakistan reached 243 for 9 in 47.1 overs, with 17 balls to spare, to book a place in the final on Saturday, 31 October, at the same ground.
Shadab, batting at No. 8, finished on 113 not out off 96 balls, with 13 fours and five sixes, his maiden one-day century. Rauf, at No. 11, finished on 7 not out off 19 balls. Their stand is now the highest last-wicket partnership in a successful one-day chase, passing the unbeaten 64 of Deryck Murray and Andy Roberts for West Indies against Pakistan at the 1975 World Cup. Rauf struck the winning boundary, off debutant Henry Crocombe.
England had posted 241 all out in 46.4 overs. Ben Duckett made 105 off 111 balls, his fifth one-day century, and shared a 93-run fifth-wicket stand with Sam Curran, who made 42. Shaheen Shah Afridi took 4 for 46, and England's last pair added 39 to carry the total past 200.
Pakistan's chase then fell apart. Fakhar Zaman and Babar Azam made 10 each, Saim Ayub made 6, and although Saad Baig struck a brisk 32 off 22 balls and Salman Ali Agha made 26, the hosts slumped from 74 for 3 to 103 for 6, when Shadab arrived in the 24th over, and then to 154 for 9. Jamie Overton took 3 for 43, and some of the home crowd began leaving after the ninth wicket fell.
The turning point came with 21 runs still needed. Shadab, then on 97, was given out leg before wicket to Gus Atkinson. England began celebrating, and the broadcast graphic briefly showed an England win, but Shadab reviewed. Replays showed an inside edge on UltraEdge, the decision was overturned, and Shadab went on to his century. After the match he wrote: “I dedicate this win to the two most wonderful women in my life: my mother & my wife.”
Pakistan are in the final, but their opponent is not yet settled, and neither side has named a team for 31 October. Whether Pakistan's top order changes after folding to 103 for 6 and then 154 for 9 is a selection question the coaches have not yet answered in public.
Nor is it clear whether this innings changes Shadab's role. He arrived as an all-rounder with five one-day half-centuries and no century; whether the selectors now treat him as a batting anchor at No. 8 will only become clear in the final. England's response is likewise unwritten: three straight defeats in this tri-series leave questions about selection and nerve that no post-match interview has resolved.
It matters first because of the record book. A last-wicket stand had never before carried a side to a successful one-day chase of this size: the previous mark, 64 not out, had stood since the first World Cup in 1975. Records that survive fifty-one years do not fall by accident, and this one fell to a No. 8 and a No. 11 against a side that had the match won.
It matters second because of what it does to the tri-series. Pakistan are through to the final, while England's third successive defeat leaves their own final hopes hanging by a thread; a reversal after Sri Lanka had earlier chased 430 against them, the second-highest successful chase in one-day history. And it matters third because of belief: a side that wins from 154 for 9 stops believing a match is lost when the ninth wicket falls, and so does every side that must play them next.
The partnership worked because Shadab refused to let it become a lottery. He kept the strike for most of the stand, found a boundary in almost every over, and allowed Rauf to face just 19 balls in 80 deliveries of partnership. Rauf's job was narrower and harder than it looked: defend, duck, survive the short ball, and do not give England the wicket they were waiting for. He did it, slipping twice on a dewy outfield and surviving a run-out scare.
England's failure was the mirror image. Their bowlers had done the hard work, the early strikes, the squeeze through the middle overs, Overton's three wickets, and then, with one wicket to take, they could not finish. The lbw review will dominate the inquest, but the deeper problem was the 89 runs that followed it: once Shadab survived, England had no second plan for a set batter farming the strike. Cricket, like the one-day game at its best, punishes a side that celebrates a wicket it has not yet taken.
The first ripple is in the record book, where a 1975 mark has been replaced and every future last-wicket stand will now be measured against 89 not out. The second is in the review debate: a correct overturn that arrived after celebrations had started will be replayed in every argument about the decision-review system, and about how quickly a broadcast graphic should declare a result.
The third ripple is local. Dawn noted a sparse crowd at the Gaddafi Stadium; a final on 31 October, with Pakistan in it, is the chance to fill the ground that emptied early on Sunday. And the fourth is psychological: Pakistan now know they can win from anywhere, England now know they can lose from anywhere, and that knowledge travels into the final with both sides.
Three markers will tell whether Sunday was a turning point or a one-off. The first is selection: whether Pakistan keep faith with a top order that folded twice, and whether England change a bowling attack that could not take a tenth wicket. The second is the final's other finalist, still to be decided, and the match-up it creates at the Gaddafi Stadium.
The third is Shadab himself: whether he bats again at No. 8 with the same freedom, and whether opponents now plan for him as a batter rather than a tail-ender who got lucky. The country profiles will not decide any of that, but the final will: one match, on Saturday, in Lahore, with a trophy and a record already in the room.
How the West reads it: England's win, given away Western coverage frames the match as a defeat snatched from victory. The emphasis falls on England's collapse of nerve: a side that had reduced Pakistan to 154 for 9, that had seen Duckett's century carry a modest total, and that had begun shaking hands, could not close out one last wicket. The review is told as the hinge, and the third straight defeat as the pattern that now defines England's tournament.
How the East reads it: a ‘miracle’ told through the review Indian coverage, the loudest cricket audience in the region, tells the same match as a miracle with a punchline. The Times of India and ETV Bharat linger on the review, Shadab walking off, England celebrating, the graphic flashing the wrong result, and then on the pair's mid-pitch chatter, which Shadab later said was ‘more about other things than cricket’. In a region where India and Pakistan usually meet as rivals, a Pakistan rescue is reported first as pure spectacle.
How the South reads it: fortune, and a dedication, in Lahore Pakistani and Qatari coverage reads the match as a home triumph with a moral. Dawn's verdict, ‘fortune favours the brave’, captures a press that had watched its side collapse and then refuse to leave. Al Jazeera stresses the same arc: a crowd drifting away after the ninth wicket, a counter-attack that brought it back.
Pakistan won by one wicket on 25 October 2026 at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. Chasing England's 241, Pakistan recovered from 154 for 9 to reach 243 for 9 in 47.1 overs, with 17 balls to spare, in the ODI tri-series that also features Sri Lanka.
Shadab Khan finished on 113 not out off 96 balls, with 13 fours and five sixes. It was his maiden one-day international century, scored batting at No. 8, and it carried Pakistan from 154 for 9 to a one-wicket victory over England in Lahore.
Their unbroken 89-run partnership for the last wicket is the highest in a successful one-day international run chase. It passed the unbeaten 64 of Deryck Murray and Andy Roberts for West Indies against Pakistan at the 1975 World Cup, a record that had stood for fifty-one years.
The final is on Saturday, 31 October 2026, at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, the same ground where Pakistan beat England. Pakistan have qualified for the final; the identity of their opponent had not yet been settled when this article was published.
