From 154 for nine to 242 for nine: Shadab Khan and Haris Rauf's last stand sinks England in Lahore

Shadab Khan was 97 and out. A full toss, into the pad, the finger went up, and he turned for the pavilion, shook hands with England's fielders, tucked the bat under his arm. Then the big screen flashed the replay, and there was an inside edge. Shadab stayed. The twenty minutes that followed under Lahore's floodlights needed 20 runs from Pakistan and the company of Haris Rauf, whose contribution was seven off 19 balls. The man not scoring was the man not getting out. Rauf pushed Henry Crocombe's ball through the covers for four and Pakistan were home by one wicket at 242 for nine, into the tri-series final. I learned to keep score the night my foot broke; the habit has one use — when everything on the field turns into feeling, the card is still counting.

England, batting first, were bowled out for 241 in 46.4 overs, which is to say 20 balls went unused. Thursday on this same ground had produced 859 runs; two days later the cricket ran the other way, ball quicker than bat. Pakistan won the toss and bowled, and the hosts in salmon pink — the West Indies World Series colour for breast cancer awareness — set the terms of the match inside the first hour. England handed Henry Crocombe an ODI debut, Josh Tongue missing with a bruised toe, and left Adil Rashid on the bench for the second match running. Pakistan gave Razaullah a debut of their own.

England's first four wickets fell for individual scores of 4, 5, 1 and 6 — 56 for four at the end of the powerplay, the four dismissed men adding 16 between them. Tom Banton clipped Shaheen Shah Afridi's fifth ball to cover, and that ball was Shaheen's 150th ODI wicket. Joe Root had just enough time to put Afridi away through the boundary before making an ugly splodge. Harry Brook was off the mark with an inside edge, but Razaullah, at slip, went back for the second, picked up and threw down at fine leg a fraction quicker than Brook's turn. Jordan Cox tried to nuzzle Rauf to third man and found Babar Azam diving to his right at slip.

Ben Duckett played the innings that scoreboard needed — 105, his fifth ODI hundred, his first against Pakistan and his second at Lahore. The weapon was the sweep, in every hue, and when Sam Curran stuck with him the pair added 93. Shaheen brought himself back to break it and did, Curran (42) hooking a shorter ball to fine leg. The last five wickets added 96, and that was the floor under 241. Arafat Minhas was not given the ball until the 29th over, six wickets at Rawalpindi behind him; when he got it he removed Duckett for 105 and then the big-hitting Jamie Overton. Razaullah caught Jacks off his own follow-through, scooping the ball off the dirt, and tempted Dawson into a pull to deep square leg. Shaheen took his fourth when Crocombe toe-ended to extra cover, Babar's third catch of the innings.

Pakistan's chase began under a purple Lahore sky, floodlights on, the ground filling late. Fakhar Zaman's restless drive in the fifth over went straight into Jamie Overton's big hands at slip — Atkinson's first. Crocombe's first over was on the money, his third was a nine-ball mess, and in it went Saim Ayub, who had opened his account with a six off his tenth ball and then opened the face and ladled the ball to Overton. The crowd had one name on its lips, and Babar Azam, at his home ground, answered with a pure off drive and something equally majestic on the on side. Just as the glory hit the veins, Atkinson went through the gate and fired the top of off. Saad Baig picked up the pace with an otherworldly 32 until Overton's bullet was well caught by Jacks at backward point — in the same over in which Overton had pulled up in his delivery stride and called for the physio.

From there it was cat and mouse. Could England frustrate Pakistan into giving wickets away? Yes. Liam Dawson, Curran and Overton bowled on a button, and the field was set to a single shot — one shot was left open to every batter, and every batter played it. Hasan Nawaz yahooed Dawson into the stratosphere where Harry Brook waited. Arafat Minhas lasted three balls before directing Overton to Joe Root, who had just been ushered to short fine leg by Brook. 103 for six. Salman Ali Agha had a meaty slog and was caught at long off by Curran. Razaullah got a gorgeous ball from Jacks between bat and pad and Pakistan were nine down — 154 for nine, 88 away, queues forming for the exits.

My notebook, after the 34th over, carried one line: England have won this unless they keep giving Shadab strike. They kept giving Shadab strike. He began stepping out to the spinners, Dawson's length kept getting shorter, and the runs came through pull and sweep. Rauf ate 19 balls at the other end for seven runs, and those are the most expensive seven runs in this scorebook, because they were the overs in which Shadab could breathe. With 20 needed, Rauf argued a wide with Will Jacks and had to be ushered away by Root. In the middle of it Shadab was given lbw on 97, reprieved by the review, and then dabbed Atkinson's yorker for four to reach a first hundred in any international cricket.

Here is the part the celebration will bury. England did not lose this match in the 49th over of the second innings; they lost it in the 46th over of the first. 241 was short on that pitch, and the loudest detail is the 20 unused balls. Those 20 balls were worth roughly 25 to 30 runs that afternoon, which is close to the margin Pakistan eventually won by. Benching Rashid for a second straight match was a choice on this surface, and it was filled by Jacks and Dawson, who bowled respectably and gave Pakistan air in the middle overs. Reading Shadab's hundred as a hundred is the easy route; this match turned on Rauf's 19 balls and one review. And 4, 5, 1, 6 in the first innings is not luck, it is structure — a side that loses four powerplay wickets ends up depending on Duckett's sweeps in the last ten overs.

Pakistan are in the final, and Shadab Khan now owns the hundred that came out of the emptiest scoreboard of his career — every scorecard is a body that refused to be forgotten. England's question is plain and wants an answer before the next ball: was leaving Rashid out a balance call, or has the team already begun thinking about the next series? The record does not argue. It just waits to be counted — and the next time these two meet, the card will decide whether that Lahore night was a great chase or an innings that hid England's bowling problem for exactly one evening.