ICC Test Series – ENG vs PAK: The English cricket team is on a tour to Pakistan to play some test series and is looking to improve their game. The series started with a bang when the English cricket team broke some records and played good cricket. There is a long history between the two teams when players such as Younus Khan and Misbah were playing in the test matches for Pakistan.
However, this time the team was led by the Pakistani skipper Babar along with some new and younger players. The England cricket team was led by Ben Stokes who yesterday helped England to win the first match of the series against Pakistan.
The ICC test match was held in Rawalpindi. On arrival in Pakistan and before the test match even started, the English cricket team was struck by an illness and was in no condition to play. As a result, the team management along with the Pakistan cricket board also considered delaying the match. However, the team recovered before the match and played exceptionally well in the first innings.
England had won the toss and elected to bat first. They scored massive 500-plus runs on the first day which broke a 100 plus years record in ICC test matches too. After that, Pakistan also scored but way less than 500 runs and once the team was all bowled out, the English cricket team batted again, but this time they didn’t play much. After scoring a humble amount of runs, Ben stokes the skipper signaling for a declaration.
ICC Test Series – ENG vs PAK: England Ahead with Their First Win Against Pakistan
After talking with the media, Ben Stokes mentioned again that even though the number of runs was not enough they still declared, because he had faith in his bowlers and believed that they would be able to win the match. In addition to this, Ben stokes said that it was a tough decision and came after analyzing the pitch conditions and other factors too. Moreover, he further added that they didn’t look for a draw match, they would either win or lose the match.
In addition to this, the match still got very close to being a draw which would have been very disappointing for the team. A Single wicket was required and just 8 mins remained until the daylight was over. Pakistan needed to make 80 runs to win the match, but on the other hand, England required only a single wicket before the day ended to win the ICC test match and they did so.
That moment was quite phenomenal because there was a very high chance the match would be a draw. Despite this, leech came into action and took the lbw of Naseem shah.
The scenes at the dressing room were also really great and James Anderson did get a little emotional as it was his 180th game with the team. James now plays for the England cricket team for test matches only to conserve his stamina and prevent getting into injuries in the matches due to his old age. In the first innings of the game, England was dominant and played fiercely because they hit too many boundaries and scored a ton of runs.
To tackle that, the Pakistani team came into action, but in comparison with the English cricket team, they didn’t play at a faster run rate. However, since England declared themselves at a low total, in the end, Pakistan only had to make 86 runs to win the ICC test match before the day ended. There was hope for them because the top test player Azhar Ali was still standing, but after his wicket, the wickets started falling until they lost the match.
