England have lost to Pakistan for the first time under Ben Stokes’ captaincy. In the game, Pakistan made some controversial decisions as well. The one that made headlines was their decision to recycle the surface from the first Test in Multan for the second Test as well. Moreover, they brought some changes in the line up too and they secured a 152-run win over England as well.

“It was always going to be an interesting Test match, knowing we were going to be using a used pitch as day one was now effectively day six,” Stokes said. “It played alright on day one and it wasn’t until the end of day two where the dryness and the usage of the pitch really started to show. The guys who have had success with the bat were the ones who look to put a lot of pressure on the spinners. It was one of those where you had to find a way to negate the spin. It was an interesting Test match to watch. There was a lot happening and a lot going on. I am sure it was good viewing for everyone who turned up to watch not only here but on the TV as well.”

However, England started Day 4 needing 261 runs with eight wickets in hand but were bowled out soon after as Noman Ali recorded his best figures for the venue (8 for 46) as well. Noman picked up a wicket almost every second over after Sajid Khan removed Ollie Pope in the second over of the day, but England, playing with their Bazball way, swept and reverse-swept the two spinners, hardly blocking anything as well.

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“It was always going to be a very, very tough task, but we obviously backed ourselves to chase that down and it was pretty evident of the way we had to go there and play,” Stokes said. “It was a case of chasing the runs down as opposed to looking at how much tie we have left in the game. We built some really good partnerships and started to put the pressure back on Pakistan. I think the way in which we approached this run chase was exactly the right way to do it.”

“Defending the ball was probably the hardest thing to do on that wicket. Everyone was treating a sweep shot like a defence, but it was a scoring option. When you are looking to play the cross bat shots, you have obviously got the chance of a dismissal but at least you are giving yourself a chance to score runs and when you are chasing down a total you give yourself the best chance of scoring runs,” he added.

“I actually apologised to the group up there last night. It’s the first time in my captaincy that I’ve let my emotions show in my body language, with how I was feeling as the game was unfolding. I owned up to that, and I am very annoyed at myself for letting that out. It’s something that I don’t want to do, or be seen to be doing. No one means to drop catches, but it just proves how important catches are out in these subcontinent conditions, because they don’t come along that often. So I apologised to the group and said that was poor of me. I was a tired and grumpy old man last night. You won’t see that happen again,” Ben Stokes shared again.

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However, Ben Stokes returned to cricket with this Test after nine weeks as he had sustained a hamstring injury while playing in The Hundred. He had built up his fitness on the sidelines of the first Test as well.

“I’ve worked so, so hard to get fit for this Test match, but nothing can prepare you for standing out on the field in hot weather,” he said. “Training doesn’t do that, so it was great to be able to get through this Test match, it fills me up nicely going into next week, and it was nice to get some overs under the belt as well. That was the one thing that I felt like I was lacking. But obviously, when you get into the game, and you feel like it’s on the line, nothing can stop me from doing that,” Ben Stokes concluded.