PAK vs ENG 2022: We were not up to the mark in the first innings – Babar Azam

Pakistan’s captain Babar Azam admitted his team was not up to the mark in the first innings with the bat after his side lost the second Test match against England by 26 runs at Multan on Monday. The home team was in a dominating position at 158-3 in the first essay after dismissing England at 281 runs. Thus, it looked like Pakistan will be able to take the first-innings lead.

But it wasn’t to be the case as Pakistan was skittled out for only 202 runs and gave away a lead of 79 runs to the tourists. The hosts collapsed in the first innings as they lost their last seven wickets for only 44 runs.

In fact, Pakistan was in the contest in the final innings but they could not get over the line as Mark Wood took two crucial wickets of Mohammad Nawaz and Saud Shakeel.

Meanwhile, Abrar Ahmed had a dream debut for Pakistan as he took a total of 11 wickets in the Test match.

Babar Azam said in the post-match presentation, “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.”

On the other hand, England’s Harry Brook played the match-winning knock of 108 runs in the second dig. Brook’s knock helped England in swelling their lead past the 300-run mark. The youngster was awarded the Player of the Match for his fine knock.

He said after the game, “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.”

With this win, England took an unassailable lead of 2-0 in the series with one match still to go. The third Test will be played at the National Stadium, Karachi from December 17.