England won by 74 runs in what was a thrilling test match on the last session in Rawalpindi. England is now leading the series 1-0.
England captain termed the win as “One of England’s greatest away wins.”
After the match, Ben Stokes said, “A few days ago we were running around trying to start on time. So credit to the group for coming here, turning up under the weather, Will Jacks getting the nod at the last minute and Popey having to take the gloves. What we’ve had to deal with coming in makes this win even better. We’ve played eight or nine Test matches with me and Brendon in charge and we try to focus on ourselves, take the positive option and not second guess ourselves with what the opposition might do.
“We’ve an exciting team and it was a great pitch to bat on, so a chance for us to go and express ourselves. For the lads to run in all day as they did today, it’s great as a captain to see that enthusiasm,” he added.
“At lunch we were in the perfect position, said to the lads this is why we declared. Probably had about eight minutes before we come off. I think it’s maybe up there with one of England’s greatest away wins. The toil everyone has put in is hitting everyone, Anderson is emotional up there. We’ve done something very special this week,” Ben said further.
Batting first England posted more than 500 runs on the first day of the test match and scored total of 657 runs in the first innings. 4 England players (Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope and Harry Brook) made centuries in the first innings. In reply, Pakistan also batted brilliantly and scored 579 in their first innings. Abdullah Shafique (114), Imam-ul-Haq(121) and Babar Azam (136) made centuries for Pakistan.
England blasted 264/7 in just 35.5 overs. Harry Brook smashed a quick 87 in just 65 balls with 3sixes and 11 boundaries, Joe Root also batted brilliantly for 73 off 69 deliveries. England gave a competitive target of 343 runs. Pakistan could only manage 268 in the fourth innings and lost the match by 74 runs. James Anderson and Ollie Robinson took 4 wickets each for England. Ollie Robinson was adjusted man of the match for bowling brilliantly on the last day on a pitch which was very difficult for seamers.
In the post match presentation Ollie Robinson said, “The pitch wasn’t that favourable for the seamers but we managed to get the ball going and toiled way. We left nothing behind. We had to be patient at times, knew if we got fresh batters in against the reversing ball we could go bang-bang. The batters gave us that opportunity, scoring the runs as quickly as they did. Think so, coming here and playing on this wicket, the best Test I’ve been involved in.”