England wicket-keeper Jos Buttler produced a MS Dhoni-esque stumping, possibly the best of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 so far, during their second match against Pakistan at Trent Bridge in Nottingham on Monday.
England captain Eoin Morgan won the toss and invited Pakistan to bat first at a venue, where to highest ODI totals were scored. And Pakistan openers Imam-ul-Haq and Fakhar Zaman added more than 80 runs in the first 14 overs.
Then a moment of brilliance from Buttler broke the opening stand. A lightning-quick stumping. Impressed with glovework, celebrated commentator and former India batsman Sanjay Manjrekar claimed that Buttler has joined 'Dhoni school of stumping', and went on to explain: "Collection close to the stumps, sharp and quick. Makes all the difference in the age of technology."
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Legendary Sri Lankan wicket-keeper Kumar Sangakkara also hailed Buttler's work while doing TV commentary for the official broadcasters of the tournament.
In a celebrated career, Dhoni has patented 'lightning-quick stumping'.
Watch the stumping here:
K0UtEXzHZNE6bnm2 from Last on Vimeo.
Mohammad Hafeez missed out on becoming the first century-maker of this edition of the World Cup but a vastly improved batting display from Pakistan saw them make 348 for eight.
Hafeez made the most of a reprieve when Jason Roy floored a routine chance at mid-off following a skied drive off Adil Rashid, with the batsman on 14. He went on to score 84 off 62 balls.
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With Babar Azam (63) and Pakistan captain Sarfaraz Ahmed (55) also making fifties, this was a major turnaround from a Pakistan side who collapsed to 105 all out in a seven-wicket defeat by the West Indies in their World Cup opener at the same ground on Friday.
Pakistan were undone by a barrage of bouncers against the West Indies and England, unsurprisingly, deployed similar tactics after captain Eoin Morgan won the toss, with their attack featuring recalled fast bowler Mark Wood.
But Pakistan coped well on a ground where England had twice set a world record for the highest one-day international total -- 444 for three against Pakistan in 2016 and last year's 481 for six against Australia.
Yet having failed to defend a score of 340 against England -- the world's top-ranked ODI side -- at Trent Bridge last month, the worry for Pakistan was that they may not have put enough runs on the board.
For all the talk about England's quicks, it was off-spinner Moeen Ali who took the first three wickets Monday on his way to figures of three for 50.
By contrast, fast bowler Jofra Archer's 10 wicketless overs cost 79 runs while Woakes, who equalled the record of four catches by an outfielder in a World Cup innings, took an expensive three for 71 in eight overs.
