Just when Pakistan were on course for a big score on the board with a flourishing partnership between Imam-ul-Haq and captain Babar Azam, leg spinner Matt Parkinson produced an absolute beauty to dismiss the left-hander to give England a much-needed breakthrough.
Imam was well set after reaching his fifty but the rough outside his off-stump was providing enough assistance to the leg spinner. Parkinson bowled the wicket ball a little slower and drew the batsman to play a drive and found just enough turn to sneak through between his pad and the bat.
As per Cricviz ball tracking data, that delivery from Parkinson turned a whopping 12.1 degrees that is the highest amount of turn generated by any spinner since the time ball racking was introduced in the game.
After facing big defeats in the first two ODIs, Pakistan got back in the groove with the top order batsmen coming to their best. Imam batted with control while Babar Azam batted with sublime timing to reach another century in ODIs.
Pakistan were under pressure and they were jolted early once again when Saqib Mahmood found the outside edge of Fakhar Zaman’s bat when the left-hander tried to force him through the off side of his backfoot.
Pakistan have reached 237 runs by the end of the 40th over on the back of a century from Babar Azam and counterattacking half-century from Mohammad Rizwan.
On the other hand, England bowlers could not replicate their success from the first two games of the series and none apart from Mahmood and Parkinson could provide Ben Stokes breakthroughs.