England has taken an excellent approach to the game’s longest format, Test cricket. Ever since Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes took over as the leaders of the team, England has seen great heights. “Bazball,” as their approach is referred to, is the attacking style of the game that has seen a great deal of success.
With emphatic wins in the first two games of the ongoing Test series, veteran keeper-batter Kamran Akmal believes England has thoroughly outperformed Pakistan. Speaking on his YouTube channel, Akmal emphasised how Ben Stokes and the company executed their strategy flawlessly, dominating with both bat and ball. He believes the visitors were never put under pressure and played on their own terms to complete a historic Test series victory on Pakistani soil.
“England won the game because of their planning, and they also played some good cricket. They changed their captain and coach very recently, and yet they came to Pakistan with so much clarity. They played on their own terms. They batted how they wanted to, never looking under any kind of pressure. The same goes for their bowling as well, as they were able to get breakthroughs at the right time,” he said.
In the recently concluded Multan Test, Pakistan were bowled out for 328 in their second innings, suffering a heartbreaking 26-run loss. Following back-to-back defeats, the Babar Azam-led side has been eliminated from the Test Championship 2023 final race.
Akmal went on to say that Pakistan is solely to blame for their 26-run loss to England in the second Test, blaming their batting order blunders. During the run chase, he questioned the team’s decision to send Faheem Ashraf and Mohammad Nawaz ahead of Agha Salman. He also criticised Nawaz for failing to take his team home despite a strong start with the bat.
“Pakistan have only themselves to blame for the loss. Is Faheem Ashraf a No.6 batter, or is Agha Salman a No.8 batter? Mohammad Nawaz scored 40-odd runs, and the coach hugged him after that because maybe the coach had sent him at that position. The player will be happy, thinking that the coach is satisfied with his efforts,” he added.
