The last wicket gets the last word

Pakistan had one wicket left and almost an entire innings’ worth of trouble behind them. At 154 for nine, chasing 242 against England in Lahore on October 25, the question appeared to be how quickly defeat would arrive. Shadab Khan and Haris Rauf supplied a different answer: an unbeaten partnership of 89, and a victory that turned the last pair into the main event.

The hosts finished on 243 for nine in 47.1 overs at Gaddafi Stadium. Shadab made 113 not out from 96 balls; Rauf contributed an unbeaten seven from 19. Their escape secured a place in the tri-series final, according to eNCA’s match report.

A century built on the edge

Shadab had arrived at 103 for six. By the time Rauf joined him, he was on 32. The Pakistan Cricket Board’s report records an extraordinary acceleration: all five of his sixes and nine of his 13 fours came with nine wickets down.

The arithmetic offered a narrow route back. Pakistan needed 88 when their final pair came together, but still had more than 16 overs available. The required rate was manageable; the margin for error was not. Every scoring opportunity had to be weighed against the possibility that one mistake would end the match.

That makes Shadab’s innings more interesting than a simple burst of hitting. He had to create runs while managing who faced the next delivery. Attacking was a means of protecting the partnership as well as reducing the target.

The seven runs that mattered

Rauf’s contribution illustrates why a partnership cannot be measured by comparing the two individual scores. Shadab could supply the boundaries only while someone remained beside him. For a number 11, resisting the temptation to manufacture a heroic shot can itself be the decisive act.

Yet Rauf also supplied the finish. As the PCB recounts, he hit the winning boundary after an 80-ball stand. Pakistan crossed the line with 17 deliveries unused: a chase desperately short of wickets had never quite run out of time.

The moment England thought it was over

There was one final twist. With Shadab on 97 and Pakistan needing 21, Gus Atkinson won an lbw decision. Players began exchanging handshakes, but a review revealed an inside edge and overturned the dismissal, according to the PCB’s account.

The reprieve did not make the remaining runs automatic. It restored the opportunity, and Shadab made it count. For England, the emotional swing was especially severe: an apparent ending became another passage of play they still had to control.

A place in the record books

The ICC confirms that the 89-run partnership is the highest for the tenth wicket in a successful men’s ODI chase. It surpassed the unbeaten 64 shared by West Indies’ Deryck Murray and Andy Roberts against Pakistan at the 1975 World Cup. It ranks fourth among all tenth-wicket stands in men’s ODIs. Shadab’s 113 also set a men’s ODI record for a batter entering at number eight or lower.

Those distinctions matter because they define the achievement precisely. This was not the largest last-wicket stand in every setting. It was a record rescue under the particular pressure of a chase, where the target remained visible and the next dismissal would settle everything.

Pakistan should celebrate without forgetting the collapse that made such a rescue necessary. England must examine how a commanding position slipped away without treating an exceptional innings as something entirely within their control. For everyone watching, the lasting image is simpler: two batters, one remaining wicket, and a match that refused to finish when it was supposed to.