Gone from being a walk in the park to wading through knee high mud. Just needs one good over to relieve the tension.
Stokes has just proved my point. He's just got an incredible mental strength who delivers far more often than not in the crunch moments. Even with a dodgy knee he got England over the line with a super composed knock.
Interesting that both innings had similar features. Top order batsmen got the runs at pace. Once the power plays were completed the spinners gained control because of the turning Sydney pitch, catchers on the boundary and a softened ball. Rashid bowled beautifully including one over in the power play that changed the momentum. Stokes batted sensibly and in a calculated way. Can see how you might think Stokes was man of the match, but without Rashid the job would have been much harder.
But the pitch suited the spinners. Stokes was batting during the toughest period of the match to bat on. And he took a wicket.
Incredible from Pakistan! They were all but out after the first couple of games and relied on a massive shock to get through the group. Now through to a final against India or England.
