England has won the first test 3-match series against Pakistan by 3 wickets. England made a terrific comeback in the second innings after being down and out in the 1st innings. Although Pakistan dominated the entire test match but lost 2 crucial sessions which were eventually the turning points in the test match.
Also See: PAK vs ENG Series | PAK vs ENG Live Score
Turning point one was when Pakistan despite having the lead of 107 runs did not add many runs in the 2nd innings. Their batting collapse had cost the match as they were overconfident that how much ever runs they added in the 2nd innings were a bonus for them.
The second turning point was when England were given a target of 277 and were 117 for five wickets down. England had lost all their main batsmen and it was all up to Jos Buttler and Chirs Woakes. Pakistani bowlers were pumped up with the ball during that situation. England post- tea required 110 runs to win and a mini partnership was made by Buttler and Woakes. The english batsmen started counter attacking the bowlers and courtesy Chris Woakes (84 not out) and wicketkeeper Jose Butler (75) struck a half-century and a 139-run partnership for the sixth wicket between the two helped England beat Pakistan by three wickets in the first Test to take a 1-0 lead in the series.
Azhar Ali, the captain of the Pakistani cricket team, praised the partnership between Jos Buttler and Chris Woakes. “I wouldn’t say we lost the match in [our] second innings, but we missed a chance to knock England out of the game there,” he said. A lot of criticism was made on Azar Ali for his defensive approach. On 117-5 when the English batsmen started to counter-attack he had pushed the fielders to boundary ropes. The Pakistan team didn’t go for the ‘kill’ in that situation. The choice of bowling is also a big question mark for the captain. Stats clearly indicates that Pakistan has never won a close match under the captaincy Azhar Ali. England won by chasing the 10th highest run chase (277) of their cricketing history.
“It will hurt the Pakistan team and the cricket lovers in Pakistan. Winning and losing is part of cricket, but I think our captain missed a trick quite a few times in this game, as far as his leadership is concerned.” – said Wasim Akram while commentating on sky sports.
After the three-wicket defeat at Manchester, Pakistan have now lost seven consecutive Overseas Tests. The second match of the series will be played at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton from 13 August.
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