England and their new brand of cricket under Stokes and McCullum have seen off New Zealand and South Africa at home, beaten India in that one-off Test and come here to Pakistan and taken an unassailable 2-0 lead. There’s something brewing with this bunch of players and management. They are changing the way Test cricket has been played and are finding success. Pakistan, on the other hand, need to sort out their bowling as they lack the killer instinct and apart from Abrar Ahmed, the rest looked toothless and pretty ordinary. That’s all from this Test but we have one more on this tour and it starts on Saturday (December 17). Do join us for that. Until next time, goodbye and stay safe..
Ben Stokes | England captain: Obviously different conditions and differently played games but fantastic to be a part of both the games. We had a look at the wicket and it was tricky against slow bowling, but as the game progressed the cracks opened up and our seamers came into the game. The way in which Jimmy and Robbo bowled in the series and our spinners as well, they are going to deliver more often that not (referring to him not bowling). Amazing debut for Abrar and many congratulations to him. He took 7 wickets but we were still scoring runs against him. I just look around and look at my options and see who gives me the best opportunity to pick wickets.
Babar Azam | Pakistan captain: We were not up to the mark in the first innings. There were a couple of soft dismissals but were well short of the mark. We fought back with the ball and bat in the second innings but it was not enough. There were a couple of good partnerships but in the end we did not finish well as a batting unit. It was a dream start for Abrar and he used the conditions well. Looking forward to the Karachi Test and we will do our best.
Harry Brook | Player of the Match: I tried to learn from my mistake in the first innings. I wanted to put the pressure on the spinners and it worked. We knew before coming into the game that it is going to be a turner, they have been asking for it and there was a lot of talk in the dressing room as well, so wasn’t surprised. We just tried to go out there and play our band of cricket, happy that it came off.
13:30 Local Time, 08:30 GMT, 14:00 IST: What a game! There’s something about this Stokes led England side that make Test matches interesting and the good thing is they keep going out on top every time. Today we came in with Pakistan needing 157 runs and England needing 6 wickets. Root struck early to send back Ashraf. But Shakeel and Nawaz kept the fight going with a 80-run stand and that’s when Stokes turned his Durham team mate, Mark Wood. The speedster bowled a hostile spell before lunch and picked up the two set batters, Shakeel would feel a bit unfortunate having missed out on a hundred but also because his decision was debatable. Abrar was promoted over the two bowlers and he played a few shots but that didn’t last long. Salman kept the chase alive but in the end it was too much for him to do.
